With Bash in Berlin officially in the rearview mirror, Cody Rhodes can finally turn his attention away from a friendly feud with Kevin Owens to his biggest task at hand, Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline.
On paper, it makes sense, right? Sikoa called next last month regardless of how the Bash shook out, and while Rhodes secured the win in Cleveland at SummerSlam, that was never going to be the final match of their feud.
And yet, on the final SmackDown on Fox, where Sikoa and Rhodes stood face-to-face in the middle of the ring, Rhodes wasn't looking to offer up a match to the man currently calling himself the “Tribal Chief,” but instead a member of his family.
“Certainly the season premiere of SmackDown next week, there should be an Undisputed WWE Championship, and you, the formidable athlete you are effective and unhinged,” Rhodes declared. “You are truly the number one contender in my book, the man who stepped outside the shadow of the ‘Tribal Chief' trying to keep you down. You do indeed deserve an Undisputed WWE Championship match. I'm not talking to you.
“I am talking to you, Jacob Fatu! Step up!”
Oh snap, Rhodes versus Fatu? What in the MJF-Wardlow are we talking about? Well, as it turns out, it was nothing but a ruse to get Sikoa's goat, as after Fatu walked into the ring, the “Tribal Chief” called him off, unamused by Rhodes' attempt to sew discretion within the faction.
“Huh, I guess it was worth the shot,” Rhodes admitted. “I mean, I'm crazy enough to wrestle any of you that's for sure but Solo, you believe it don't you? Every second, every minute, every hour, you do indeed get better, and you, sir are wearing the Ula Fala, which means The Bloodline revolves around you. But me? This right here, the WWE Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, the WWE revolves around this. And perhaps one day I will be looking up at those lights courtesy of that iron thumb of yours but I can tell tell you this, it sure as h*ll ain't going to be next week.”
“I see what you're trying to do right now,” Sikoa noted, “there, you trying to get my enforcer to turn on me, huh? I see what you're trying to do. Okay Cody, you want me next week? Guess what? You're on.”
As The Bloodline squared up for a would-be beatdown, Rhodes was quickly flanked by #DIY, the (babyface?) Street Profits and Nick Aldis, who declared next week's SmackDown will feature the “American Nightmare” versus Sikoa in a Steel Cage match. A weird choice to book this match on television? Sure thing, but hey, if the idea is to get some eyes on the show in its SmackDown debut, this is certainly a solid enough idea to do just that.
Cody Rhodes has even more to say about WrestleMania 40
While Rhodes remains firmly entrenched in his feud with The Bloodline, one topic the “American Nightmare” just can't seem to move on from is his build with the faction heading into WrestleMania 40, which featured so many twists and turns it required an official documentary for WWE to get it's story straight.
While Rhodes has been pretty vocal that things didn't shake out the way he wanted, in a recent discussion with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes, he noted that the most surprising part of the situation was how much The Rock's camera crew focused on him, as he assumed this was The Bloodline's story, not his own.
“He might. He might have a point. He might, only because I didn't think of myself…the moment was so real, I guess I didn't think of myself in a performance sense of ‘You're not smiling' or ‘You are smiling.' The Final Boss [The Rock] had whispered something in my ear that was actually really kind and nice, and I did smile. I think, not so much about my face, the thing I remember about it is I wanted to get out of there,” Rhodes noted via Fightful.
“I wanted to get out of there. I did want them to have their moment. I wanted to be gone. I didn't want people to linger on me. I would never shade our production team, especially with what Brian Fadem and Lee Fitting and everyone is doing. I think they might have spent a little too much time focused on me in the first place and not focused on that potential match up. Brian (Gewirtz) probably has a point, I don't think I offered up the best faces for what that should have been. I certainly wasn't trying to be boo-boo face. Boo-boo face is famous in the industry when something is up and you can tell upon somebody's entrance. Maybe I was the number one case of it of all time. Who knows. I did not think they would spend so much time on me. I did not think they would be looking at me while I was in the aisle. I just wanted to get back to my bus. I didn't go through Gorilla. I walked around it. I didn't want to see anybody. I sprinted, got on my bus, and locked the door.”
Will fans ever know the full story of what happened earlier this year in the lead-up to WrestleMania 40? No, probably not, at least until Rhodes releases his much-anticipated book a decade or so in the future, but considering his storyline with The Bloodline remains prominently on display on SmackDown most weeks, it's hard to imagine it will go away any time soon.
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