When Cody Rhodes' request for a rematch with Roman Reigns was denied one day removed from dropping his first-ever shot at the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, “The American Nightmare” had to get creative in order to keep himself in the championship picture. His solution? Request a tag team match with Reigns and Solo Sikoa, you know, to give the 17 thousand or so fans in attendance at the Crypto.com Arena what they want in the main event of the first RAW after WrestleMania.

Now, to Paul Heyman's credit, he accepted Rhodes' offer but on two conditions: 1. he needed to find a partner who competed on WrestleMania weekend, and 2. said performer can't challenge for the Undisputed Universal Championship so long as Reigns holds the title.

A tough ask? You bet; fans started to brainstorm on who would join The American Nightmare in the ring, and everyone from Sami Zayn to Kevin Owens and even Bron Breakker were suggested as potential partners for the second-generation star but in the end, it was none of the above. No, the opponent Paul Levesque – or, maybe, Vince McMahon – booked for the tag team match was none other than, “The Beast Incarnate,” Brock Lesnar. Finally, fans would get to see Lesnar main event a match on RAW, which hadn't happened in two decades, and, if  “The Beastly Nightmares” could secure the win, maybe Rhodes would be back in the Main Event picture in no time, with a match against Reigns at Backlash a real possibility.

… oh boy, were fans in for a treat roughly two and a half hours into the future.

After everyone took the ring, but before the bell rang, Rhodes walked to his corner but never actually made it there. Why? Well, because Lesnar decided to start absolutely unloading his clip on “The American Nightmare,” hitting him with powerbombs, suplexes, and one particularly brutal F5 through the announcer's table before laying the WrestleMania headliner out on the steel ring steps and then hitting a few more chair shots for good measure.

While Lesnar did say a few words about what went down, unfortunately, it happened when the crowd was being muted for excessive profanity, leaving fans to wonder what the heck just happened. Unsurprisingly, those complaints continued on social media, where fans questioned why Paul “Triple H” Levesque seemingly hates Cody Rhodes.

WWE fans lost it over Brock Lesnar's attack on Cody Rhodes.

After spending three months building up Rhodes as the heir apparent for Reigns' championship, leaving his rather routine loss to “The Tribal Chief” one of the more shocking booking decisions of the Triple H era, fans openly mocked “The American Nightmare” for his hubris, suggesting that maybe he shouldn't have smashed that throne and taken so many cheap shots at Triple H during his time away from The Fed.

Well, guess what? After the watch Rhodes take an absolute whooping at the hands of Lesnar, the chorus of fans laughing at Dusty's son drew louder and more intense.

Other fans, like actor and noted Roman Reigns fan O'Shea Jackson Jr. took the opportunity of Lesnar snapping to shoot a very cool video for social media and take another shot at “Tha American Nightmare,” who he was very excited to see lose at WrestleMania 39.

Why did Lesnar turn on Rhodes? Well, in the opinion of the fine folks of the Public Enemies Podcast, it might just have been because Lesnar bet a bunch of money on Rhodes winning the strap at WrestleMania 39 and wanted to get some revenge as a result.

Does this current Rhodes storyline, losing at Mania and getting attacked by Brock Lesnar shortly thereafter, remind you of something? Well, as BeyondThe3Count noted, that booking decision is actually very reminiscent of John Cena's booking in 2012, when he lost to The Rock at Mania before being beaten up by “The Beast Incarnate.” That feud rapidly evolved into Cena versus John Laurinaitis, and ended with the latter was fired after No Way Out.

If anyone was really disappointed by Levesque's booking, it was Stephen Amell, Rhodes' long-time friend and the actor famous for playing the titular character on CW's Arrow. After watching his pal suffer a horrible loss at Mania, he was then afforded an (almost) front-row seat for Cody's burial.

Does WWE actually have a plan for Rhodes after suffering a pair of horrible losses? Only time will tell, but after watching “The American Nightmare” look like the lesser man against two of the top champions in WWE over the last two decades, it's safe to say there will need to be some serious legwork to get him back on top.