When Byron Saxton announced before RAW that Cody Rhodes was going to work a match with Chad Gable, it drew near-universal praise from WWE fans from around the world.

Sure, Gable is pretty firmly in the lower mid-card at this point, but he's still one of the best pure workers in WWE, as is evidenced by his win of the 2019 Most Underrated Wrestler award from the Wrestling Observer, and can put on a professional match with darn near anyone.

Fortunately, Rhodes and Gable did just that, working a 10-ish minute match before “The American Nightmare” took his foe to the Cross Rhodes for the 1-2-3. After securing the win, Rhodes requested a mic and delivered an announcement to the in-arena fans in Michigan and watching from home.

“I have yet to stand in the same ring as our undisputed Champion, Roman Reigns,” Rhodes said. “But he is on SmackDown this Friday, and I am ecstatic that Roman Reigns is on SmackDown this Friday because I’ll be there too.”

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Welp, there you go, folks; Rhodes is finally going to confront Reigns, the match is finally going to get some real-deal, in-ring build-up, and Paul “Triple H” Levesque will find out if his decision to pass over Sami Zayn in favor of the former AEW TNT Champion was the right one. Rhodes talks like a champion and does promotional work like a champion too, but will the fans get behind him in the same way as they have to the “Underdog from the Underground?” Friday will answer the first question on that test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-NaVYdMRe4