MR. TITO: Blame Cody Rhodes for the LACK of Wrestlemania 41 Event Hype
I keep hearing “Wrestlemania 41 hype has been bad this year” over and over and over again from online wrestling fans. The other day, I challenged those same marks IN MY LAST COLUMN to go invent time travel and re-visit how AWFUL the WWE was during the late 2010s. If you think that 2025 is bad, try any year between 2014 and 2020. Hell, try any year of the 2010s, which I’d seriously rank behind 1990s, 1980s, 2000s, and 2020s as the WORST decade of wrestling in the modern Cable Television era.
But I also think that Wrestlemania 40 was SO GOOD that fans’ expectations are way too high. Both of those shows are ranked #1 and #2 for highest WWE gates of all time, with only the recent Royal Rumble coming close at #3 with its massive 70,000 attendance (I was there, holy cow).
Go back to what we received during Wrestlemania 40… Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns wrestled TWICE each that weekend, while The Rock wrestled seriously for the first time since 2013 (those other brief matches don’t count) and he appeared in some capacity during night #2. Hell, an injured CM Punk was even there to participate. Wrestlemania 40 will go down as one of the BEST Wrestlemanias ever.
Question for everyone… Was Wrestlemania 39 any good? First night was strong, second night was pretty much a one match show. How about Wrestlemania 38? Had some good moments, such as Steve Austin coming back and I still laugh at Jackass crew against Sami Zayn in which he made them look tremendous, but it was just an OK Wrestlemania. Same thing with most of Wrestlemanias between 30 and 37 before that.
I think wrestling fans are too spoiled with how good Wrestlemania 40 was that we’re just expecting too much with Wrestlemania 41.
Compounding things is the Rock unsure of his participation. How involved is he going to be? And many are still hungry for Roman Reigns vs. Rock to finally happen that literally anything else is a letdown.
In my opinion, though, the John Cena heel turn has electrified Wrestlemania 41 despite the show beginning to be a multi-person extravaganza besides Cena vs. Cody. Cena’s first two promos have been incredible…
But I think we’re missing where the blame should be placed for the “lackluster” Wrestlemania hype.
Because as I recall BEFORE The Rock decided to return to the WWE, fans weren’t exactly excited for Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes or the rest of the suggested card. Sorry, but I wasn’t into the “thrill” of Damien Priest possibly cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase at some point. SORRY, but that just wasn’t for me… While Cody had his loyal fans and they screamed and threatened after the Rock injected himself into the Roman match, the interest through Royal Rumble 2024 felt a tad lackluster too.
Year before at Wrestlemania 39, it wasn’t that Cody Rhodes was drawing at that Wrestlemania but that the Bloodline storyline was RED HOT and hitting its peak through 2023. Wrestlemania 39 featured Owens/Zayn vs. Usos on night one, which was a huge match-up, while night two had Cody vs. Roman. Go watch Royal Rumble 2023’s ending and see how WHITE HOT the Bloodline storyline was with that ending angle.
I wrote a column on February 9th, 2023 with worries about Cody winning the WWE Titles at Wrestlemania 39. Why? Because once the chase was over, what was left to accomplish? The “story” was that he was fulfilling what his father, Dusty Rhodes, couldn’t do and that was to become WWE Champion. After beating such a big star like Roman, what is there left to do?
In my mind, Cody Rhodes has these advantages for him:
– Former AEW EVP who left the company
– Son of Dusty Rhodes
– Getting awful booking on his previous WWE run with Stardust and midcard hell
– Great guy and fans respect him, great corporate face for the company
But have you been listening to Cody trying to cut promos for the last 2 weeks on RAW?
You know, the ones in response to John Cena in Europe?
JUST AWFUL and LIFELESS.
Cody Rhodes is NOT good on the mic, period. I said it and I 100% mean it. He cannot speak for himself by appearing totally scripted or robotic.
Listen to John Cena just shredding the European WWE fans… It sounds like he 100% means it and is cutting promos as if everyone in the crowd shot his grandma or something. He’s pissed and he’s taking out his frustrations on everyone in the crowd, loyal Cena fans included.
Then, Cody comes out in a monotone voice, “I want the old John Cena to return”.
*face palm*
And then this week, Cody wants to challenge Cena to a fight and Cody just cannot push any emotion out of his system to make himself look legitimately pissed.
Mind you, the WWE Creative Team has set him up to FAIL by not having him attack John Cena following the heel turn at Elimination Chamber where Cena viciously attacked Cody. Instead of being held back from wanting to kill Cena, Cody has just wanted to talk on a microphone instead. WHAT A WIMP and a FINGER OF SHAME to WWE Creative for making him look like a chump out there.
And sadly, John Cena is NOT going to win the WWE Title if his stance is “I’ll retire as champion”. Cody could retain the WWE Title and then we’re off to SUMMER OF BOREDOM 2.0. Oh great, I cannot wait for more matches with upper midcarders like AJ Styles. Oh, maybe we’ll wrestle the green Solo Sikoa again. Wouldn’t that be nice? And we’ll watch attendance and viewership dip, once again, as it did after the great Wrestlemania 40.
Because UNLESS you give Cody GREAT opponents such as Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, the Rock, or now John Cena, there’s not much there with the other dance partners on the WWE roster who can carry a feud like these other wrestlers. Sorry, but Cody’s scripted personality and monotone promos cannot carry the feud against a lesser opponent. Sure, Cody is a great in-ring worker and that’s where he truly shines, but hyping the match, ehhhhhh, it’s a bit weak.
JUST REMEMBER, we briefly thought that we were getting Royal Rumble winner Jey Uso vs. Cody Rhodes. I think many of you were a bit worried about that main eventing Wrestlemania, and I don’t think that was all Jey Uso. Cody won’t make that feud exciting with a lesser opponent than the other top stars thrown at him.
Before John Cena turned heel and joined the Rock, many of you weren’t thrilled with babyface John Cena vs. babyface Cody Rhodes. Why? Not because John Cena is on his retirement tour, but there’s a lack of faith among many wrestling fans with Cody as WWE Champ. He’s good, but he’s not great and not on the level of Roman Reigns or CM Punk in terms of pure star power that actually draws in wrestling fans to events.
Let me stop mincing words… Many of the complainers about the “Wrestlemania 41 hype” are quietly dissatisfied with Cody Rhodes as WWE Champion, especially on the heels of one of the best WWE Champions of all time with Roman Reigns as a multi-year champion. We may have had it TOO GOOD through April of 2024 with Roman Reigns as a heel and as champion. Now, we have a DOWNGRADED Roman Reigns as a part-time babyface without the World Title and he’s just not having the effective matches as he used to. The edge from the Roman character just isn’t there like it used to be, as if he lost a match to a lesser star…
While I love the Cody story of following the dreams of his father Dusty, his WWE Title reign instantly became stale after Wrestlemania 40 and he’s regressed as a character. Tell me, what has excited you about Cody Rhodes since Wrestlemania 40? Some of those AJ Styles matches were solid, I suppose… But other than that, he’s been an OK champ but not spectacular. The kids love him, as he’s doing all of those corporate appearances and I appreciate that to a degree.
But the quality is NOT there with Cody as the very top guy. Having CM Punk and Roman Reigns act like they are on a level below Cody is insulting. Furthermore, having Jey Uso being pushed to exceed Roman/Punk and then become an equal to Cody is further insulting.
My worries is that the WWE peaked at Wrestlemania 40, much like the Attitude Era did at Wrestlemania 17… The wrong guy and wrong character walked out of the arena with the WWE Title in both cases, and that same magic before the event could never be recaptured.
And I’ll tell you this much… Roman Reigns is a better heel than a babyface. His character is meant to be a big smug but very intense, while as a babyface, both of those traits have diminished. Having to acquiesce to another wrestler at the top of the mountain, while NOT being allowed to challenge him again, is hurting Roman and it’s hurting the WWE. Roman is turning 40 years old this year and pissing away a PEAK year would be foolish of the WWE. Ohhhhh, a triple threat match for no titles on the line, what a joy!
History will show that this Cody Rhodes title reign has gone on for far too long, and that other top stars should be fighting over the biggest title instead (Roman, Punk, and the Rock if he’s available). I admire Cody’s availability and durability, but seeing too much of one wrestler over-exposes him especially if there are no efforts to improve his shortcomings.
What you, the online wrestling fans, are experiencing about Wrestlemania 41 is NOT that the show is lacking hype, but you’re truly not excited about Cody Rhodes as the WWE Champion. He’s Trent Dilfer on a LOADED Baltimore Ravens team.
You know that I’m right… And the depression about Cody as champion adds that Gunther and Jey Uso are fighting over the other title. That doesn’t help matters… And then Bianca vs. Rhea getting pissed away as a Triple Threat with the overrated Iyo Sky… And then more multi-person matches are added to the card for more participation trophies.
But you wouldn’t care about that undercard of a Wrestlemania if the main event was great, and this year’s main event is only interesting because John Cena became a heel for the first time since 2003. If Cena didn’t turn heel, you’d really HATE this Wrestlemania with babyface Cena vs. Cody Rhodes. And ticket sales would have remained lackluster, but have in fact boomed a tad thanks to Cena’s heel turn to spice things up again.
Many of you are “Cody crybabies” and you don’t even know it…
So many booking dependencies… 2 Rumble wins, wrestling Roman TWICE at Wrestlemania, wrestling the Rock, feud with Brock Lesnar, feud with Seth Rollins, and now a John Cena turn. Can you show me what Cody Rhodes has drawn as the beneficiary of all of that?
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