With RAW XXX officially in the books, all eyes within the WWE Universe can now turn to The Royal Rumble, the first “Premium Live Event” of the 2023 calendar year. Sure, technically, there's still SmackDown, which has a few interesting bouts books, including Kevin Owens vs. Solo Sikoa, but the Rumble reigns supreme in January because it will decide on which WWE superstar will rise above the rest, go the distance, and secure a main event spot at “The Show of Shows,” WrestleMania 39.

Surely The Rumble will go a long way in defining the top of the WWE card moving forward, but which superstars have to be considered favorites to go the distance and win it all? Well, in the humble opinion of Corey Graves, you can't bet against Cody Rhodes, as he detailed to Kevin Patrick on After The Bell.

“We know we’re going to see some superstars show up that maybe we haven’t seen in a while or thought we’d never see before,” Graves said. “Now the fact that Cody Rhodes is in The Royal Rumble automatically puts him in the top three, maybe five favorites to win the thing. Period.”

“The bigger surprise for me is physically how he’s able to do it,” Patrick said.” How he’s managed to make his way back here to peak fitness. It was June when we saw those scenes at H*ll in a Cell.”

“You can’t bet against Cody,” Graves concluded. ‘What we saw at H*ll in a Cell, solidified that. You should believe in Cody because no one believes more than Cody. And that comes through our screens. And I think you’ve got to talk about Cody as a favorite to win the thing.”

Do you agree with Graves, or is there another superstar who would be a better fit for Reigns at WrestleMania, say a certain Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? Fortunately, fans will find out soon enough.