Cody Rhodes is a professional wrestler-actor currently signed to WWE and performs on the RAW brand. The wrestler gained recognition during his first tenure with WWE from 2006 to 2016, where he performed under his real name along with a gimmick and ring name Stardust. Son of wrestler Dustin Rhodes, Cody Rhodes was promoted to WWE’s main roster in 2008 and during his first run in WWE, he became a two-time Intercontinental Champion and was known to be a great tag team wrestler.
The professional wrestler requested his release in May 2016 and decided to return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 in 2022. In 2023, Cody Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble match. During WrestleMania XL‘s Kickoff media event, it was announced that Cody Rhodes is going to face Roman Reigns in the ring as part of the main event. Ahead of WrestleMania XL, fans have managed to re-visit a prediction made by WWE regarding Cody Rhodes, which is likely to come true.
Will Cody Rhodes be able to succeed John Cena?
John Cena is one of the most influential professional wrestlers turned actors in the industry. 16-time world champion, John Cena, is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. According to Wrestle Features‘ X account, a Reddit user (Touya Shiun) managed to re-visit a prediction made back in 2015.
The user explained that WWE published an article back in 2015 listing the names of the professional wrestlers who can replace John Cena as the face of WWE and Cody Rhodes was one of them. The legendary Disco Inferno, who appeared on Keepin’ It 100 with Konnan, shared his views on Cody Rhodes replacing John Cena as the face of WWE. He said,
“They’re grooming the next John Cena. A super over baby face that checks all the boxes and looks great. He does the Make-A-Wish stuff, he does the appearances, and he does the media. The John Cena spot. They’ve gotta replace John Cena.”
According to various reports, Cody Rhodes does appear to be a perfect candidate to replace John Cena as the face of WWE because of his impassioned promo style in addition to being one of the strongest players on the card. Just like how Cena always managed to be the main attraction, even when he wasn’t featured in the main event, Rhodes has also managed to keep the attraction to himself upon his return. He grew to be one of the fan favorites, just like Cena.
One of the biggest and strongest reasons why it seems that Rhodes can replace Cena as the face of WWE is because just like Cena, Cody is positive, confident, righteous, and hard-working. These are the values that are often taught to kids as they are growing up, which makes them likable. The similarities between the two professional wrestlers make Rhodes a perfect candidate to succeed John Cena in WWE if that happens.
Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns and The Rock set for WrestleMania XL
Ahead of WrestleMania XL, the anticipation around the feud between Cody Rhodes and the Bloodline is at its peak drawing a lot of attention from the audience. On Friday night’s episode of SmackDown, according to reports by CBS, Rhodes along with Seth Rollins took the ring to ask The Rock if he had any authority to set terms for the tag team match, which he proposed earlier.
Seth Rollins also called The Rock ‘Mr. Midlife Crisis’ stating that his time has passed and he cannot have their time. Rollins accepted the challenge which not only drew laughter from Reigns but Johnson also reminded both of them that as a TKO board member, he is Rhodes and Rollins’ boss noting that if Rhodes fails to win at WrestleMania, he might never get another chance at the title.
Dwayne The Rock Johnson took advantage of the opportunity and evoked Dusty Rhodes’ name while speaking to Cody Rhodes and called him a mistake only to get slapped by him. The show awkwardly went off-air.
If Rhodes and Rollins win, The Bloodline will be banned from ringside when Rhodes and Reigns go one-on-one at WrestleMania XL and if The Rock and Reigns win, The Bloodline will be free to interfere as they wish in the undisputed WWE universal title match.
WrestleMania XL will be held on April 6th and 7th at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The highly awaited event will be live streaming for the audience at Peacock and WWE network.
