Hiya!

Did you know Wrestlemania 41 is happening this weekend? I’m asking this ironically because I clean forgot! Yeah, the WWE hasn’t been doing a good job of building up what’s supposed to be their biggest pay-per-view event of the year. Oh, there are still some matches I’m fully invested in. I’m really curious to see what the WWE has up their sleeve with Jey Uso going after GUNTHER‘s WWE World Heavyweight Championship and see if they can actually make it good. I may have a strong dislike for Charlotte but I know she’s an excellent in-ring performer. So, her match against Tiffany Straton for the Smackdown Women’s Championship should be more than just entertaining. Of course, the 3-way dance between CM Punk, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins should be a banger just from the star power alone.

However, I do find it strange how there is one match I should really be more invested in but I’m not. I’m speaking of Cody Rhodes defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against John Cena. On paper, this should be the one grabbing everyone’s attention. Cody Rhodes would be facing off against John Cena but with a twist. He would be going against a heel version of John Cena. This is a John Cena who was so desperate to get another championship run before he fully retires from the world of professional wrestling. This is a man desperate enough to make a deal with the devil, metaphorically speaking, as he sided with The Rock to get his chance.

Yet, after this really strong start and even stronger premise, I simply don’t find myself caring all that much for this upcoming match. This is supposed to be for the top prize of the Smackdown brand with two of the WWE’s biggest stars… and I’m more interested with GUNTHER vs. Jey Uso? There’s just something wrong here! I do think I figured out why… and it has led me to the conclusion that Cody Rhodes should lose to John Cena and lose the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Wrestlemania 41.

Now, I’ve already written about how the WWE was being incredibly inept at handling John Cena’s heel turn. They haven’t really done anything to dissuade me from that opinion as of late and that’s partially one of the reasons why I do think Cody Rhodes should lose the belt this weekend. I do think it would be very interesting to see a heel John Cena take one final run with the belt before he retires. What would be his redemption when the Doctor of Thuganomics finally does hang up his… wrestling shorts?

Anyway, most fans have forgotten how good a heel John Cena can be. He has been doing some great promo work as a bad guy but it still seems like the WWE is hesitant to let him go all the way. They’re not allowing him to be as dastardly and vicious as he can be and not let him get beat up by Cody Rhodes like some nobody punk.

I do think a heel John Cena as the new Unified WWE Universal Champion would be very interesting and drive more people back to the WWE. However, this isn’t the main reason why I think Cody Rhodes should lose the belt to him. No, I just think Cody Rhodes should lose the championship. Period. He could lose to any one in my mind. He just has to not be the champion at this time. The reason is Cody Rhodes is much more appealing when he’s chasing after the title, not defending it.

The best explanation for my line of thinking is simply by looking back at the previous couple of Wrestlemania pay-per-views. This was when Roman Reigns was the reigning Unified WWE Universal Champion and Cody Rhodes just returned to the WWE. Almost immediately, there was a buzz around the mere idea of The American Nightmare going after Roman Reigns’ title and, at Wrestlemania 39, it looked like it was going to come true.

At that year’s Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes entered at Number 30 and eliminated GUNTHER, who just so happened to have entered first. Even if this came off as anticlimactic on paper, seeing Cody Rhodes cement his place to main event Wrestlemania 39 against Roman Reigns for the Unified WWE Universal Championship was something the fans wanted to see and we wholeheartedly agreed. We wanted to see him dethrone Roman Reigns and finally end his streak as the champ.

Too bad that’s not what happened!

What we got was something fan immediately bellyached on. Cody Rhodes was on the verge of beating Roman Reigns but wasn’t able to do so due to some outside shenanigans from Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa. I can appreciate the rare chance of a heel winning the main event at a Wrestlemania. However, this seemed like the wrong thing to do at the time as everyone wanted Cody to win and not have another year of Roman Reigns staying on top of the mountain. People were ready for a change and we didn’t get it.

Well, it looked like we were finally going to get what we wanted the following year. Cody Rhodes once again won the Royal Rumble and was on his way to face Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 40. It looked like it was going to be taken away from us because, for some inexplicable reason, The Rock decided he would just place himself in the main event of Wrestlemania 40 to face Roman Reigns for the championship. It looked like it was going to slip away again as Cody Rhodes himself said he was giving up the opportunity and giving it to The Rock! Never forget this almost happened!

Thankfully, the WWE finally listened to the WWE Universe and allowed Cody Rhodes to face off and finally defeat Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 40. Sure, it was cameo city by the end… but it was a fun trip down memory lane seeing all of these WWE Legends show up in one ring to participate in this historically fanservice-filled match!

So, Cody Rhodes finally became the Unified WWE Universal Champion. It should all be smooth sailing for the WWE now, right? The fans got the Champion they wanted. We got the match we wanted. The problem is we did get everything we wanted and the WWE apparently weren’t looking beyond that!

Frankly speaking, and this is just my opinion obviously, I think Cody Rhodes title reign as been a dud. That’s not to say he hasn’t had great matches while defending his Unified WWE Universal Championship. It’s just that the energy is gone now that he’s playing defense rather than offense. There just doesn’t seem to be any fire in his supposed feuds with these challengers. Cody Rhodes just seems to work better when he’s the underdog and not the top dog. Now that he’s essentially the dominant force, a lot of Cody Rhodes’ allure has diminished.

Sadly, the only way to get that back is for him to lose the title at Wrestlemania. That way, Cody Rhodes can be the one on the hunt and not be the hunted. He can be the scrappy hero who never quits despite the odd being against him and comes out on top. Have John Cena win and have Cody Rhodes try to challenge him for the title again down the line. I don’t think this will happen. The WWE must remember what happened at Wrestlemania 39 and would want the fans to have their fairytale ending with the good guy beating the bad guy. That seems shortsighted once again as that would be looking at the present instead of the future.

Byee!

Who do you think should win? John Cena or Cody Rhodes? Let me know in the comments section below!