For years, the Royal Rumble premium live event has been a staple in WWE history. Featuring a ton of historic moments, big returns, big debuts, and of course historic winners, which added Cody Rhodes to the list this past weekend. The Royal Rumble has always generated a ton of fan excitement, and this year was no different.
Despite the lack of surprises, the Men’s Royal Rumble match was pretty fun. We saw the return of Andrade, and NXT star Bron Breakker, and overall just saw some really solid wrestling. The show ended with Cody Rhodes standing tall, but was he the right choice?
Was Cody Rhodes the right choice to win the Men’s Royal Rumble?
Since returning to WWE at WrestleMania 38, Cody Rhodes has been arguably the biggest fan favorite. After a trio of incredible matches with Seth Rollins, Rhodes had to take some time off to heal a torn right pectoral tendon. When he returned, he had one goal in mind, to enter the Men’s Royal Rumble match and win it all in 2023.
So, Cody did just that. Rhodes would go on to WrestleMania and just as it looked like he was going to finally finish his story, Solo Sikoa would get involved. This led to Reigns being victorious and continuing his historic title reign. Cody went on to have a trio of incredible matches with Brock Lesnar and a fun feud with Shinsuke Nakamura, before this year’s Rumble.
Fast forward to this past Saturday night, Cody Rhodes and CM Punk were the final two men standing. Cody Rhodes would last eliminate CM Punk to win the whole thing and cement his main event spot in WrestleMania 40. WWE got the winner of the Men’s Royal Rumble right, and it honestly made the most sense for Cody to win.
While it’s pretty obvious what the main events should be and most likely will be, there’s a bit of uncertainty on the Raw side of things. In a worst-case scenario situation, Seth Rollins may not be medically cleared by WrestleMania which could end up changing the match entirely. Had CM Punk won the Rumble, and Rollins not been able to compete, then that would throw a big monkey wrench into plans.
CM Punk and Seth Rollins will tell a great story, but the story writes itself for Rhodes. Since WrestleMania 39, Rhodes has spoken about “finishing his story” more times than I can count. At WrestleMania 40, the story should end with Cody Rhodes finally dethroning Roman Reigns and ending his historic title reign.
Overall, the new face of the WWE has to be Cody Rhodes. Everything about the man just screams, company man. Rhodes is a major player and will be for years to come. He’s someone WWE can build around and honestly, he’s the biggest babyface since the likes of John Cena.
Cody Rhodes finishing his story will take place at WrestleMania 40. This will be the beginning of what should be a very fun title reign for “The American Nightmare.” The stage is set, and the time is indeed now. Rhodes winning the Men’s Royal Rumble match was the right choice, and it’s truly the beginning of another wild ride for Rhodes.
Do you agree, or do you think someone else should have won? Connect with me on Twitter @Scott44Mitchell and tell me your thoughts.
Until next time!
