Though technically a RAW wrestler, because Cody Rhodes is booked for a match with “The Tribal Chief,” Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39, WWE has been rather lax as to where “The American Nightmare” wrestles as of late, especially when it can help to move along a storyline.

On Friday Night SmackDown, Rhodes made his way over to the blue brand not to hype up his feud with Reigns, that's about as hot as they come at this point, but to instead build up his reinforcement heading into a feud with The Bloodline in the main event of the second night of the most important WWE show of the year, WrestleMania 39. Initially attempting to get Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn back together, the former initially refused… at least until he didn't; as Zayn was getting his behind handed to him by The Usos after his conversation with Jey in the main event, KO finally returned to his long-time friend's side to fight the brothers off and, presumably, form the babyface tag team needed to unseat the current Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions at WrestleMania 39.

Asked about how his plan came together on the SmackDown LowDown, Rhodes noted how happy every wrestling fan, not just him, was to see the duo get back together before seemingly giving WWE fans a glimpse into what he could do next after WrestleMania should his feud with Reigns come to an end.

“You know, the road to WrestleMania has really been filled with splendor in a sense that every week has been another incredible milestone. Chad Gable, I got to have this incredible match with him, reconnecting with John Cena for the first time in years, LA Knight, being able to get on a microphone and communicate with this audience what it means to me. Tonight, I got to talk about Kevin Owens, what he means in my life sincerely and in a very real way. Somebody who helped better my livelihood, I wanted to return the favor and if I did that, wonderful. The entire collective WWE Universe, sports entertainment fans, wrestling fans, all of them. Everyone who watches this thing that we do wants to see Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn on the same page and we got to see that tonight. A great milestone on the road to WrestleMania. The biggest one is right ahead, the biggest one is heading into WrestleMania, in Hollywood, in the main event. And in the main event, I’m hoping that I leave…”

Before Rhodes could finish, who but Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci emerged from off camera to finally try to shut up “The Grandson of a Plummer.”

“Alright, alright, alright, Cody, we get it,” Kaiser said. “You won the Royal Rumble. I mean, what an accomplishment, right? Entering as the very last person and eliminating the man who has been in there for over an hour who was actually the very first entrant that night. Wow Cody, you’re a hero. The only thing that you proved that night is that you’re pathetic.”

But that wasn't all, after hearing Rhodes put over Gunther's accomplishments, Kaiser declared that “The Ring General” is the future of WWE, whereas Rhodes is nothing but hype. After hearing Kaiser's case, Rhodes decided that, to paraphrase Mark Henry, “he'd heard enough talk” and instead wanted to get down to business and do some wrestling, specifically against the former NXT Champion on the next edition of SmackDown.

“Okay, do you hear that? ‘All hype? All hype?’” Rhodes said. “Understood. We’re talking about the future, let’s just get to the present. We’re here on SmackDown, I like being on SmackDown, why don’t we do it? You and I next week on SmackDown. You know somebody who can make a match, I know somebody who can make a match; let’s make it official. You want that? Next week on SmackDown.”

So what does this mean? Is this merely a one-off, or is this the first shot of a forthcoming feud between Rhodes and Imperium? If his past comments are of any indication, Gunther sounds down for the interaction.

Gunther is open to a match against Cody Rhodes in the future.

Back in February, Gunther was a guest on After the Bell with Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick, and when he was asked about Rhodes and whether Rhodes eliminating him from the Royal Rumble could be the start of a bigger feud, “The Ring General” let it be known that he would love to revisit his time in the ring with “The American Nightmare” in the future.

“I mean, obviously it does [sound like an attractive match],” Gunther said via F4W. “When I knew that scenario would go down with me and Cody at the end [of the Royal Rumble] — I knew the guy was out for a little bit. Since then I was able to work my way up, and I was like, ‘Okay, I have to introduce him to the new reality over here.' That was kind of like my attitude going into that,” Gunther said. “And yeah, obviously that was just a taste I think for everybody. I think Cody is one of those guys where that's the perfect match for me, the perfect opposite, if that makes sense. I think the match is right there whenever it needs to happen. If it would happen in Europe, obviously that would be fantastic.”

Is this where WWE is heading after Mania, with Rhodes and Gunther wrestling at Money in the Bank in London? Based on Rhodes' comments on the feud in the past, it sure sounds like the interest in a feud between the duo is mutual.