When Cody Rhodes took the ring against Solo Sikoa in the main event of SummerSlam, it felt like a big deal.
Sure, the build-up to their fateful showdown wasn't what you would call expansive, as the “Street Champ” was a mere footnote in his larger feud with Roman Reigns, The Rock, and The Bloodline as a whole, but with the original “Tribal Chief” gone and The Usos disbanded for all of 2024, a showdown between the WWE Champion and the leader of SmackDown‘s top faction felt like a perfect way to close out the summer in style.
And on Friday, in the main event of the first episode of SmackDown on USA Network following the end of its Fox run, Rhodes and Sikoa will do it again inside of a steel cage.
Slightly underwhelming? You bet, Rhodes has never defended his WWE Championship on RAW or SmackDown since winning the belt at WrestleMania 40, which truly makes this a special occasion for the folks at NBC excited about their new show. Still, in an interview with Byron Saxton on the SmackDown LowDown, Rhodes let it be known that he's excited about the match all the same and will even acknowledge Sikoa if he's able to secure the win, even if that's a whole lot easier said than done.
“I almost have a soft spot for Solo Sikoa. A legacy wrestler in a faction where everybody is saying, ‘No, I'm the guy.' Every fan is pointing out and saying, ‘No, he's the guy.' I feel for Solo Sikoa. I don't know what I was thinking, challenging any of them to a fight because the truth is, if you are wrestling, if you are fighting any member of The Bloodline, you are fighting them all. So there is nothing more perfect. There is nothing more destination for this type match than a steel cage,” Rhodes explained on the SmackDown LowDown via Fightful.
“I'd be a fool to say I was not concerned [about what Solo Sikoa is capable of inside a steel cage.] I'd be a fool to say I didn't have a little trepidation, a little fear about it, but I have been in many a steel cage and Solo Sikoa has never been in one. We said it out there, right the Ula Fala, The Bloodline revolves around that thing. Well, the WWE revolves around this: the Undisputed WWE Championship. If Solo Sikoa is Tribal Chief enough to defeat me, however, he does it, I'll stand in that ring in front of God, in front of the whole world, and I'll acknowledge him.”
While WWE has put plenty of effort into declaring that the Ula Fala designates who is the “true” leader of The Bloodline, that clearly hasn't trickled into the locker room, with Rhodes and company refusing to acknowledge Sikoa as the “Tribal Chief,” especially as Reigns looms large in the background. Still, Sikoa should have a special interest in securing the win versus Cody on SmackDown, as getting an endorsement from Rhodes, especially after losing the WWE Championship, would make him a made man within the WWE Universe.
Carmelo Hayes is proud of his work with Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton
Jumping from one upstart young maverick with something to prove in the WWE Universe to another, Carmelo Hayes discussed what it was like to get into the ring with Rhodes and Randy Orton since being drafted onto SmackDown as a first-round pick in conversation with Denis Salcedo of Instinct Culture.
While Hayes hasn't found much success in massive matches on SmackDown just yet, he believes each step along the way has been instrumental in his growth as a performer, as he knows he'll be ready when he gets a chance to have next.
“It's definitely been a learning experience. I've been talking about the fact of making that transition, especially coming in as a first-round draft pick, where all eyes are on you. You know what I mean? There's really the most criticism I've ever faced in my whole career,” Hayes told Denise Salcedo via Fightful. “But that's OK because, at this time, that's what you get when you get that first-round draft pick label. If you want to be him, you open up yourself to that type of criticism. But really, it's just of like that up in my game to that next level, because there's so many guys up there. That I've got to work with Cody and Randy and things like that that have taught me that there are so many different levels to this game and there's levels that I would have never knew if I wasn't in the ring with those guys. So it's been an amazing process, and I'm just getting started, really, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.”
After a fantastic run in NXT that saw him win title after title after title, Hayes has found his first real rival on SmackDown in the form of Andrade El Idolo, who he has wrestled on a near-weekly basis down the stretch during the Blue Brand's run on FOX. If he can parlay that feud into a few massive wins, like a victory for LA Knight's United States Championship, who knows, maybe he will be able to avoid the “bust” label first-round picks who underperform in other sports often land.
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