Honestly: Cody Rhodes Will Fulfill His Destiny At WrestleMania 39
“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
William Jennings Bryan
Last night we witnessed Cody Rhodes get one step closer to achieving a 29-year-old goal that he made when he was just 8 years old, to win the one championship that his legendary father, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes was denied. The very championship that even Cody’s older brother, Dustin, was also unable to capture during his own legendary career as Goldust.
The WWE Championship formerly the WWWF and WWF Championships, has alluded the Rhodes family for generations. Cody Rhodes set a goal for himself as a child to right a wrong or an injustice if you will that denied his father one of if not the most prestigious and most important world championship in the history of the business due to a “technicality”. As Cody Rhodes detailed in his return promo to WWE last year, he made it clear why he needed to return home to WWE to achieve 8-year-old Cody’s boyhood dream.
Cody Rhodes dream was not only to win the WWE Championship, but to physically hand the title to his father. Something that unfortunately can no longer happen as we lost Dusty in 2015. The bond between a father and a son is something that is truly special and unique. When there is a truly strong bond between a father and son, the loss that a son feels when their father passes is beyond devasting. It is a pain that only someone that has gone through it can understand. You may think you know what it feels like or what it will feel like, but it is so much worse than you can ever imagine.
I know that pain that Cody has and continues to feel every day because it never goes away. A part of you is forever lost and broken. You look for ways to remember them and to feel a connection to them to help cope with that pain. You carry on their legacy in their absence and that is exactly what Cody Rhodes is doing.
“Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.”
Henry Miller
When Cody Rhodes felt he had no choice but to leave WWE in 2016 as the company did not see him as the star or talent that Cody himself knew he was capable of being. He had to let go of that childhood dream of becoming WWE Champion and he needed to prove to the company that they were wrong and to bet on himself by leaving WWE. Cody Rhodes completely reinvented himself and proved to the world that WWE was wrong, but at the same time Cody believed that he burned his bridges with WWE and a return to the company was likely not going to happen and that childhood dream would never be fulfilled.
The funny thing about destiny is it can be delayed but it cannot and will not ever be denied. When Cody Rhodes made his shocking 2022 return home to WWE at WrestleMania 38, he was a far superior talent than when he left the company 6-years ago. That night Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins had arguably one of the best matches in WrestleMania history. For the next few months these men would go to absolute war with each other putting on arguably the feud of the year in wrestling during their trilogy of matches.
The sky appeared to be the limit for Cody Rhodes return to WWE, but Cody’s dream and destiny would suffer a detour in his path towards the WWE Championship. Cody would suffer a torn pectoral muscle that would put him on the shelf for months. However, he wouldn’t go on that shelf without closing out his trilogy of matches with Seth Rollins in the gutsiest performance I’ve ever seen in professional wrestling. Cody Rhodes would not only wrestle Seth one more time in a simple match, but an absolute war in the Hell in a Cell in arguably the match of the year of 2022.
The moment that they said how many months Cody would be out, myself and so many fans immediately did the math and figured the Royal Rumble would be the place that Cody was aiming for as his return location. The one thing that I was calling for in multiple articles for Wrestling Republic and I stated it in a number of Wrestling Republic podcasts is that Cody Rhodes should be the guy to dethrone Roman Reigns legendary dominate reign as WWE Champion.
As I’ve stated before, the purpose of a long dominate reign is to not only get the talent holding the title over, but it is also to bring prestige to the title and whoever defeats the champion for the title should be made and elevated to the next level by defeating the champion and taking the title. For almost 900 days Roman Reigns has been the longest reigning WWE Universal champion and for almost 300 days as WWE Champion. These are insanely impressive statistics, and it just further justifies my point that whoever defeats Roman needs to be elevated to the next level by defeating him as it should most certainly be someone that has never been WWE or Universal Champion.
Cody Rhodes returned as the number 30 entry in the Rumble, and wasted no time in showing the world that he is ready to fulfill his long awaited destiny. Watching Cody’s journey in this business from when he originally started in WWE and his excursion years and his eventual return home to WWE has been such an amazing journey when you step back and look at the full scope. One of the truly special moments that may have gone unnoticed or appreciated during the Royal Rumble last night was Cody having a truly full circle moment.
Cody Rhodes has openly talked about how important Rey Mysterio was to him during his initial run in the company as they feuded leading to a WM 27 match where the veteran Mysterio put a young Cody Rhodes over. Then last night Cody had a moment with Rey’s son Dominik, and it had a full circle feel to it as Cody is now the veteran and Dominik is the young star trying to make it in WWE.
This was the first time Cody had interactions with many of the talent in WWE as his initial return was very limited before he went out with his injury. This year’s Royal Rumble match was severely lacking in returns and surprises; however, it did have some special moments. One of those moments was Cody being able to re-ignite his heated rivalry with Seth Rollins. Those two have such amazing chemistry together and it is magic to watch whenever they are in the ring together. Finally, I have to say I loved how dominate Gunther was portrayed in the Rumble match and to have him and Cody as the final two was tremendous in my opinion.
To have the number 1 entry and the number 30 entry as the final two was something truly special and something that I don’t recall ever happening before. They went to war with each other in there and it was very much a match within the match, which reminded me of the Undertaker and HBK in 2007 as the final two. As this was the first time that Cody and Gunther ever shared a ring together, it was clear these two have chemistry and can and likely will cross paths in the future and create magic in that ring.
As the road to WrestleMania’s main event is clear, it is truly fitting that two of wrestling’s royal families will be doing battle on the grandest stage of them all. The Rhodes and Samoan dynasties have been two of the most important and influential families in the history of the business. It is also fitting that so much time has passed since these men have crossed paths in their careers. They are two completely different wrestlers and in their absolute best prime right now and they have never gone to war one on one. This will be a truly special buildup and match up and I for one cannot wait to witness this match up.
Final Thoughts:
I completely understand that there are fans disappointed that this isn’t going to be the Rock vs Roman, but honestly that match up didn’t need to be for the championship. If Roman would have beaten Rock, then you have the problem of who could dethrone Roman if the Rock couldn’t do it and if the Rock would have won, he would have surely vacated it or dropped it very quickly. Cody was 100% the right choice for them to take the title off Roman and Cody is a workhorse that can be an undisputed champion that can appear on both shows so both Raw and SD have a world champion. Hopefully, this also leads to Cody bringing back the iconic winged eagle WWE Championship belt.
This has all the potential to be a Shawn Michaels boyhood dream WM 12 moment, but even more special since we know Cody not only wants this for himself, but to fulfill the one thing his beloved father was not able to achieve and to feel that connection with his father one more time.
ITTMP
Photo Credits – WWE & Edits Perale’s Instagram
