After spending basically all of 2023 and the first third of 2024 feuding with The Bloodline, Cody Rhodes had seemingly put the faction behind him when he successfully secured the pin against the “Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 40
Finally, a Rhodes got to hold the belt his family had been fighting for for decades, his Superstar was officially born, and the “American Nightmare” could ride off into the future as the babyface hero he knew he could become when he left the promotion nearly a decade earlier for his AEW-birthing excursion.
And yet, much like Saron once he was slain by Isildur, The Bloodline never really died; it just went into hiding, returning a few months later with a new look, a new “Tribal Chief,” and a newfound villainous that even Paul Heyman couldn't stand by.
With a win over the “American Nightmare” on his resume from a trios match at Money in the Bank, Solo Sikoa, the Guerrillas of Destiny, and Jacob Fatu – but not in that order – marched down to the ring after the main event of SmackDown to lay out a declaration of insurgency against the heroic face of the WWE Universe.
“Worcester, Mass, acknowledge me! Need I remind you what happened to those that didn't acknowledge me? Jimmy Uso, my own brother, my own flesh and blood, didn't acknowledge me. And you know what happened? He's gone,” Solo Sikoa told the crowd in Worcester. “The Wise Man, Paul Heyman, he's gone too. And Roman Reigns. Oh don't cheer for him now, you people don't deserve Roman. You got me now! And if Roman Reigns decides to come back, he will acknowledge me as his Tribal Chief. But tonight, tonight is about Cody Rhodes. It's Cody Rhodes' turn to acknowledge me. So Cody, if you're back there…”
He was, and after talking with Randy Orton backstage about his inevitable encounter with Solo and co., Rhodes was ready to march down to face his foe straight on instead of hiding in the back to meet his fate.
“I've heard everything that you're saying. I'm sure you could figure this out, we want the same thing. Now of course, gotta speak to Nick Aldis, but you might as well consider it official: SummerSlam, the Undisputed WWE Championship,” Cody Rhodes declared. “But, if it was really up to me. If I could make any decision, I wouldn't be waiting till SummerSlam. I'd wanna do it here and now.”
Welp, there you go, folks; baring a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson-level change up of the promotion's plans, Rhodes versus Sikoa is going down in the main event of SummerSlam, and fans are in for one heck of a slobberknocker at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
JR: Paul Heyman is the true star of Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa
Speaking of Paul Heyman's decision not to acknowledge Solo Sikoa as his “Tribal Chief” before taking a brutal Bloodline bashing, Jim Ross put over his former WWE commentary booth mate, noting that he has done an incredible job of getting this storyline over even further.
“My God, the table is set [for Reigns to turn babyface]. The table is set very nicely. Paul's performance was extraordinary. You know, he's just a special talent. I'm concerned about his size, I'm concerned about his weight. I want him to stay healthy and productive and all that good stuff. But yeah, him getting the bump through the table was pretty damn special. And he's no spring chicken, but he did it; he got it done. And I thought it worked out really well. His verbal stuff, getting himself show-ready, not shaving. His eyes are bloodshot. He hadn't slept, he was concerned, he was worried. All these things that go into that whole formula, he pulled off very well,” Jim Ross declared via 411 Mania.
“I don't know if have I seen a performance from someone in his role as significant as we saw there from the Garden. And where else would you want to do it? I mean, I know the Garden is special to Paul… I love the guy. You know, he was one of my guys. He was the guy that the booking committee that WCW did not want to work with, because he was very demanding. And I think quite frankly, he had better ideas than most of them on the booking committee. He had better booking ideas. So that, because of the paranoia in wrestling, got some heat on him. And that's how he became an announcer. The booking committee didn't want to work with him, and so consequently, I did. I wanted to work with him. And so I made him my partner and the rest, as they say, is history. But he's a phenomenon.”
How will Heyman return to WWE? Will he stand in Rhodes' corner at SummerSlam in defiance of this false Bloodline? Or will he instead make his return alongside Roman Reigns, who has been rumored to be in the SummerSlam picture, though not with anything particularly substantive? Fans will find out at least some of that answer in a few short weeks when the WWE Universe is unleashed on Cleveland.
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