The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Cody Rhodes has spent some time becoming the uncrowned People’s Champion, and all signs point to that finally ending this week.
It’s when the youngest son of “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes is expected to finish his story to win the WWE championship his dad never held.
To do so, he will need to defeat Undisputed WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 40’s second night at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
By doing so, he will not only end Reigns’ 1,300-plus-day world championship reign, but potentially the Tribal Chief era of WWE.
If that comes to fruition, the moment will be Rhodes’ because of the incredible connection he’s fostered with wrestling fans.
Fans loudly expressing their love for Rhodes, 38, forced WWE to pivot from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – the original People’s champion – facing Reigns at WrestleMania to him becoming a babyface star, unlike anything WWE has ever seen.
Hulk Hogan was a larger-than-life hero and a physical specimen with 24-inch pythons that a fan could only dream to be like (with the help of a different type of vitamins).
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the beer-drinking badass every red-blooded male wanted to be. But in the real world, you can’t flip off, tell off and assault your boss, keep your job and not end up in jail.
John Cena, has described his idyllic character as “Superman.” Sure, you can live by the virtues of hustle loyalty and respect, but Cena’s character was too perfect and more similar to a Marvel or DC character than an everyday person.
Rhodes, who is less a character and more simply playing himself on TV, has established a much different dynamic since he walked away from WWE in 2016.
He’s become one of the People. He’s become the fans’ representative and advocate in pro wrestling. By showing a next-level appreciation for fans, Rhodes feels like someone who you could easily approach or see yourself hanging out with on the weekend.
When Rhodes was working even the smallest of independent shows and to this day at WWE events he would take as much time as needed to ensure he interacted with as many fans as possible after shows.
Even as he began his Ring of Honor run as an over-the-top heel, his appearances on “Being The Elite” with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at Rhodes as his wife Brandi and adorable dogs, Pharaoh and Yeti Pinkerton. Rhodes is now also a father to two-year-old daughter Liberty.
I still remember one BTE episode where Rhodes and The Elite brought boxes of donuts for fans at one of their autograph signings.
Who does that?
Cody Rhodes does.
It’s why fans feel they can ask Rhodes to be the best man at their wedding or do their gender reveal in the ring after a show. It’s why young fans ask him to come to their birthday party or be a part of his entrance during a house show. The difference from almost everybody else is Rhodes says yes to all of these things and tries his best to make it work. He is paying for The Wrestling Club at t KIPP AMP Middle School in Brooklyn to attend WrestleMania 40.
Who does that?
Cody Rhodes does.
When fans were sick of what WWE was giving them and wanted a true alternative, Rhodes was at the front of that with Bullet Club in Ring of Honor and New Japan – even invading Raw, a la DX, on BTE in 2017.
Seeing a tweet by Dave Meltzer as a challenge, they made history with the first wrestler-financed show, packing in 10,000 for the first All In in 2018 and turning that into AEW. It was Rhodes who smashed the Triple H-like throne at AEW Double or Nothing to signal this was going to be something new.
Who does that?
Cody Rhodes does.
Throughout it all, Rhodes’ mantra has been “do the work.” And it is in that where his power lies because he is someone proving in real life that busting your ass can lead to you fulfilling your dreams, as he got the chance in WWE he was searching for and has knocked it out of the park.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Rhodes looks like the average person – he is easy to believe in and emulate in what fans are trying to accomplish in their lives.
Dress to impress, attack your job with everything you have, be a loving father and husband and don’t be afraid to go above and beyond for others – even if that means wrestling with a torn pec.
It’s why fans want and need to see Rhodes – who like all of us isn’t perfect – finish his story because hard work, perseverance and kindness need to pay off, especially after losing last year. They need to allow you to fulfill your dream.
Rhodes is one of the People. He has been their representative in the wrestling world for the past eight years.
If Rhodes wins Sunday as expected, the People have crowned their champion at last.
The 10 Count
We here at The Post Match Angle floated the idea of Chad Gable training Sami Zayn for his WrestleMania match against Gunther back on March 19 and it made for an excellent story and video package on Raw this week. But it still might not be another to dethrone the Ring General and Intercontinental champion.
CM Punk took a torch to AEW again during an explosive interview with Ariel Heilwani on Monday, only adding more wood to the fire on beliefs already out there with the company’s critics about the Elite, Tony Khan’s leadership and business model. Punk has every right to finally want to get his side of the story out there after all this time — and it will be interesting to see if Khan feels the need to respond.
As someone who has all the respect in the world for Becky Lynch, I think she should watch Ronda Rousey’s Ring of Honor match and clashes with Charlotte Flair and then tell me she can’t wrestle. Was Rousey an elite performer? No. But I’ll always be curious if sticking to a more MMA style that held Rousey back was her idea or WWE’s, because it’s hard for me to imagine Rousey not wanting to put the work in to improve.
Inserting Jade Cargill into arguably your best women’s story against your top women’s faction in Damage CTL is perfect placement. It continues to make her feel like a big deal. She will work with five absolute pros at WrestleMania. She won’t be asked to do too much too soon and you can lay the first brick for a rivalry with Bianca Belair. The visual of Cargill, Belair and Naomi – three black women – pointing at the WrestleMania sign was such a powerful one.
WWE is on the verge of using the simple story of Candice LeRae mocking Maxxine Dupree to add new layers and emotions to three talents who have been minor players so far.
LeRae will be a hated heel, her partner Indi Hartwell a heroic babyface for eventually standing up to her and Dupree a sympathetic babyface.
AJ Francis may be signed with TNA for 2024, but he got his first big post-WWE moment at MLW’s War Chamber show as he beat former world champion Alex Kane and took control of his Bomaye faction. It also gives Kane a compelling post-championship fight for redemption.
With Willow Nightingale now set to face Julia Hart for the TBS championship at Dynasty, Mercedes Mone is still without a first opponent. AEW has a few options. Have a Britt Baker or a Jaime Hayter return in the coming weeks to challenge Mone at Dynasty or the Dynamite after if they come back at the pay-per-view. Serena Deeb can answer a challenge from Mone to get her started with a quality match on her way to eventually facing Nightingale.
Hook’s world championship journey is underway and it will start with being under the tutelage of Chris Jericho after AEW’s first world champion offered his guidance. The FTW champion immediately called out Jericho’s backstabbing past, but unless Jericho turns on Hook for, say, a Sammy Guevara, I’m not sure why he’d have a reason to. It will be interesting to see how having Jericho around changes anything about Hook in the ring or if he pushes him to cheat to win at all. Still, this is a big thing because Hook is finally on a quest for the big belt.
Matt Cardona answering Adam Copeland’s TNT open challenge brought back good memories of Cody Rhodes’s run of open challenges and their match was excellent and filled with drama late. Let’s hope that trend continues before what should be an intriguing story with Malakai Black.
The Ruby Soho, Angelo Parker, and Saraya story has quietly been the best thing to watch on AEW Rampage each week. Steady story progression with a few twists and turns.
What if somehow Dominik Mysterio goes on to lead his own faction against Judgment Day and Rhea Ripley? He sure has a lot of new friends recently.
Extra: The Roman Reigns documentary from A&E is a fantastic look at what drives and molded the character and the man behind it into what he is today as his run may come to an end on Sunday. The Bray Wyatt doc on Peacock is a beautiful, sad and uplifting look at Windham Rotunda as we have never seen him before.
Extra, Extra: Got my hands on a new Macho Man biography, “Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage”, by Jon Finkel, which is out today. I’ll report back when I’m done, but so far have enjoyed the stories from those close to him growing up about his baseball obsession.
Social Media Post of the Week
Wrestler of the Week
Swerve Strickland, AEW
The path is now clear for Strickland to fulfill his goal of becoming the first black AEW World champion as his one-on-one match with Samoa Joe is set for Dynasty after a fantastic match and victory over Konosuke Takeshita in the main event of Dynamite
Match to Watch
Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins vs. The Rock and Roman Reigns, WrestleMania Night 1 (Saturday, 7 p.m., Peacock)
Yes, Rhodes will likely end Reigns’ incredible championship run and finish his story Sunday, but his feud with The Rock has been far better. Also, this will be Rock’s first true match since he beat John Cena in 2013 at WrestleMania 29. How will he look? Will he upstage Reigns and pin Rhodes to set up another match down the road? Will any new Bloodline members show up? So many questions need to be answered before Sunday and we should get them in the Night 1 main event.
