Jim Ross defends WWE’s booking decision to have Cody Rhodes lose at Wrestlemania 39

During his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross commented on Cody Rhodes losing to Roman Reigns at WWE Wrestlemania 39…

“I like the longer story to be honest with you and it really doesn’t have anything to do with Cody as much as it does with storytelling. The chase that he can embark upon, if done properly, can be extremely successful for Cody and WWE. Fighting for something, battling it out, earning the opportunity just like he just got here and he’s in a title match type thing. Now would I have liked to see Cody for his own personal edification win the title? Absolutely. I’m a Cody fan. But I do like the fact that they’re going to make him earn it so to speak, and get on this journey. You know that Heyman and company will have a million roadblocks and it’ll involve a lot of different characters. It’ll give a lot of people a rub, as they say. So I had no problem with it. I know a lot of people did, and I can understand that. If they would have gone the other way and Cody had gone over, I’d have been happy, but I think it was not a disaster for Cody to not win the title because it gives them a potential story that has a a very, potentially anyway, a very long arc, and easy to understand, easy to follow storyline that all roads will eventually lead back, no pun intended on the roads, but all roads will eventually lead back to Roman Reigns and and Cody somewhere. If it were me, I know where it’d be. It would be at WrestleMania next year. After everything he’s gone through, blah, blah, blah,after coming close last year and he’s overcome, overcome, overcome, finally, the day has come for the rematch. So that’s one idea. That’s just a matter of using smart booking. That’s my take on that deal.

I know a lot of people were pissed off. I understand the disappointment. I’m not even criticizing it whatsoever. I just think this long term arc to get him back to the promised land is the way to go. It’s good storytelling, especially for a company that produces five hours of big time live television a week with three hours of RAW and two hours of SmackDown. They need stories. They need stories that have a direction and a purpose and a reason, and certainly, there’s plenty of reason to promote the eventual return match.” (quote courtesy of WrestlingNews.co)