After welcoming The Usos back to SmackDown, with the tag team of Jimmy and Jey officially reunited after some internal tension spurned on by Sami Zayn's defection at Extreme Rules, Paul Heyman was approached by Kayla Braxton to discuss his Roman Reigns' forthcoming match with Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39. Though clearly distraught about the situation, Heyman still maintained his reputation as one of the quickest wits in the business and used the opportunity to provide some crucial insight into “The Tribal Chief's thought process heading into “The Showcase of the Immortals.”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. This Cody Rhodes is too much, isn’t he?” Heyman asked. “I mean, we get all this criticism for invoking the names members of his family, and what did Cody Rhodes do on Monday? He got involved in Bloodline business, and Bloodline business… is family. And maybe that’s his counter-attack. You know, for almost a thousand days, a thousand days, Roman Reigns has been the champion, and every time a new challenger comes along, the Tribal Chief comes to his special counsel and he says ‘Wiseman, how do we deal with this challenge? Do we do it like gangsters? Do we lie and manipulate – this is my favorite – and we get inside their head to where, by the time they step in the ring, they’re already a defeated opponent. Or do we do it with the truth?’ Cuz the truth is, Roman Reigns is the GOAT, Paul Heyman is the GOAT, The Usos are the GOATs, and when we are aligned together, The Bloodline cannot be stopped.

“And then comes along this Cody Rhodes. Stylistically a nightmare for us. He’s like the one guy I never wanted to see across the ring from Roman Reigns and I went to my Tribal Chief, and I said ‘What do we do? Gangster? Truth?’ And in his infinite wisdom, The Tribal Chief said to me, ‘Wiseman, the most gangster thing we can do to Cody Rhodes is to smash him with the truth. Because the truth, for Cody Rhodes, is in his past that he couldn’t control, that he can’t escape, that will put such emotional baggage on Cody Rhodes that he never knew existed, that by the time he walks into the ring at Wrestlemania, he’ll already be a defeated opponent.’ And then, then, the only story left for Cody Rhodes to tell will be when he takes his shoulders off the mat after being defeated by Roman Reigns and has to pick the time and the place that he truthfully acknowledges his Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns.”

During Rhodes and Reigns' meeting of the minds on SmaackDown, “The Tribal Chief's” decision to bring Cody's father, Dusty Rhodes, into the conversation clearly struck a dissonant chord with “The American Nightmare.” If Heyman, Reigns, and company can play up that emotion, it could lead the second-generation superstar into making mistakes, which, in turn, would fall right in the favor of The Bloodline.

Cody Rhodes is open to Brandi Rhodes joining him in WWE.

Discussing the prospects of his real-life wife, Brandi Rhodes, joining him in WWE with Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Cody noted that would never rule out the former AEW Chief Branding Officer appearing on television more regularly.

“We always, from a professional standpoint, we always wanted to do everything separately,” Rhodes said vial Fightful. “In one of the last interviews she had done before I left (AEW), a guy [Dan Lambert] was making fun of me in the ring, and she went out there and didn't need me anywhere near it. She very much can defend herself and can fight her own battles. Very separate in that. I wouldn't rule it out, but she absolutely loves watching what I'm doing. She has some stuff that she's working on secretly, unrelated, and I ain't going to spoil it, unrelated, will not spoil it. Definitely, never say never.”

Welp, there you go, but Rhodes wasn't done. No, in another interview, this time with Josh Martinez on The Crossover, Rhodes noted that he'll be attempting to win the title for Brandi, as she deserves it “almost more than I do.”

“It's not a story that anyone's ever really going to know, but I wouldn't even be able to have come back if Brandi had not made a very selfless decision that changed my life,” Rhodes said via Fightful. “It's hard to even speak about it without getting emotional. Brandi deserves the WWE Championship almost more than I do. I really look forward to trying to be able to do that.

“As a husband and a father, you report back to these girls. You report back to them, and that would lead me to the other most important woman in my life, which is my daughter. [She] doesn't have a clue what's going on, but I feel such a responsibility to report back hopefully with two championships and to just report back having given everything I possibly could.”

While the decision for Rhodes to leave for a main event push on WWE might not have been the hardest decision he's ever made, Brandi going from the CBO of AEW with a reality show and a branded Youtube series to Cody's wife certainly must have been an adjustment. If Rhodes does complete his story and bring back the belts, then maybe, just maybe that adjustment was worth it.