Wrestling veteran and former WWE employee Dutch Mantell recently picked Cody Rhodes to possibly be the man to take down Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
During the latest episode of SmackDown, WWE aired a vignette on The American Nightmare, showcasing how the second-generation superstar returned at WrestleMania 38. The video package also put Rhodes over as a braveheart for fighting inside Hell in a Cell against Seth Rollins with a torn and badly bruised pectoral muscle.
On the latest episode of SmackTalk, Mantell mentioned that with the way WWE was pushing Cody, a case could be made that he could win the Royal Rumble and go on to dethrone Roman Reigns.
He stated that being injured made the American Nightmare a bigger star, and he is a huge babyface in the company.
"These are touching vignettes they're doing on him. He's got Dusty in there, he got hurt. So he's not just winning, he's winning for everybody else. He is what you call a white meat babyface and they could really get some heat on him. I think Cody's worked his b*tt off. I had fear first when I heard he was coming, that was with the old regime. He would hit it hot for a month and all of a sudden it would just tell off. Getting hurt probably did him a favor." [From 19:45 - 20:26]
You can watch the full video here:
You can catch the full results of SmackDown here.
Roman Reigns will face Kevin Owens at Royal Rumble
While Roman Reigns may have an encounter with Cody in the future, he has to deal with a "KO problem" at The Royal Rumble.
This week on the blue brand, while The Bloodline was in the ring, Owens interrupted them. The Prizefighter challenged The Tribal Chief to a match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble.
IT'S OFFICIAL! 🙌@WWERomanReigns will defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against @FightOwensFight at #RoyalRumble! pic.twitter.com/rjGpdfquoh
— WWE (@WWE) January 7, 2023
The premium live event will emanate from The Alamodome in San Antonio, TX on January 28.