The landscape of WrestleMania 42 changed on WWE SmackDown when Cody Rhodes defeated Drew McIntyre. Unfortunately, there’s bad news for The American Nightmare right after his title win on the blue brand.
Earlier this year, Cody Rhodes lost the Undisputed WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre in Germany when the two competed in a Three Stages of Hell match. After failing to win the Men’s Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches, Nick Aldis granted The American Nightmare a rematch for the title.
Thanks for the submission!
In the show’s main event, Jacob Fatu stopped Drew McIntyre from using a steel chair, and Cody Rhodes eventually won the title for the third time in the Stamford-based promotion. Unfortunately, there’s bad news for the newly crowned champion heading into this year’s event.
The company uploaded the entire match on YouTube, and unlike in 2024, Cody Rhodes doesn’t have the massive fan support that he once had heading into WrestleMania XL. As of writing, the video garnered over 55,000 dislikes on YouTube.
It was fan support in 2024 that put Cody Rhodes in the main event against Roman Reigns. The growing dissatisfaction is clearly bad news for the newly crowned champion heading into WrestleMania in Las Vegas.
WWE confirms Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton will headline WrestleMania 42
Earlier this year, Triple H confirmed on X that Roman Reigns and CM Punk will headline WrestleMania for the World Heavyweight Championship. While The Game was indicating the final match of the night on Sunday, WrestleMania is a two-night event.
Recently, Cody Rhodes won his third Undisputed WWE Championship in the promotion when he defeated Drew McIntyre. Meanwhile, Randy Orton won the Men’s Elimination Chamber match in Chicago, where he pinned Rhodes to end the gimmick match.
After The American Nightmare became the new champion, Triple H uploaded a post on X and stated that this match would headline WrestleMania 42. It could mean that Rhodes and Orton will close the event on Saturday, and Punk and Reigns will follow it on Sunday.
Edited by Aakaansh Sukale
