Why Cody Rhodes is no longer the man to dethrone Roman Reigns

Cody Rhodes is in a much different place than he was back in Q1 of 2023 heading into WrestleMania.

Finishing the story was immediately established as Cody Rhodes’s main goal when joining WWE in April of last year. That goal was nearly accomplished a year later on April 2, 2023, but WWE made the decision to stick with Roman Reigns as the Undisputed Universal Champion headed toward the summer.

An opportunity was taken, and an opportunity was missed.

Rhodes came all so close to accomplishing his goal but remains farther off than he ever was before. Tied up in a trilogy feud with Brock Lesnar, Rhodes doesn’t even find himself on the right brand to challenge Reigns for his belt.

Rhodes is on Raw currently working in a program with Dominik Mysterio, now set for a matchup at Money in the Bank. Meanwhile, the Bloodline story is taking over Friday night’s skyrocketing ratings and owning the talking points of the WWE Universe.

Rhodes is still a main-event star on Raw, but Seth Rollins feels bigger right now as the World Heavyweight Champion. Drafting Rhodes to Raw is one of the mistakes creative made in the draft because they knew Rhodes would never be THE guy on the brand.

Cody went from being the largest babyface on the roster by a mile, but now that’s pretty debatable, I mean have you heard the crowd sing Seth’s song? Cody went from needing to finish the story to start his WWE career to doing a mid-card feud on Raw, it just doesn’t feel the same as it did two months ago.

The real story that needs to be finished is the Bloodline story. The men that originally created magic, deserve to end it once and for all. As the bloodline is torn apart and crumbles to the ground, whether it is Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, or Solo Sikoa, one of those men deserves to dethrone their leader.

Reigns is racking up new highs in ratings on Smackdown, and WWE would feel a lot more comfortable handing his belt to a superstar that has been a part of his journey this whole time. It isn’t Rhodes’s fault that he doesn’t feel like the guy anymore, WWE has just booked him worse as of late, while the Bloodline feels like must-watch television for over a year, and one of the three men other than Roman in the Bloodline need to dethrone him.

Cody Rhodes’s story being finished needs to be put on hold for finishing the best story in a decade that WWE has put together.