Matt Hardy Blames Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania Loss on AEW

WWE held their biggest show of the year over the weekend, but Cody Rhodes did not walk out of SoFi Stadium with Roman Reigns’ titles. The Tribal Chief reigned supreme once again, and there are some interesting theories going around about that surprising loss.

Cody Rhodes was the betting favorite to win at WrestleMania as well. Plenty of people assumed he would be able to finish his story, but that was not the case at all.

During the Extreme Life of Jeff Hardy podcast, the tag team specialist pontificated on the idea that Cody Rhodes might have lost at WrestleMania as punishment for leaving WWE and starting up AEW. Of course, that is just his opinion, but he gave some logic behind his idea.

“Cody, he ends up leaving, he goes out, he creates a company, he creates success. He gets himself over. He’s a big deal and [people are] all behind him. Vince comes in at the end of the day, like, ‘hold up, before you are going to run this ship, I’m going to show you. I’ll make you earn it.’ I mean, that’s a possibility.”

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“I don’t know if that is the actual factual, true deal [though].” After WWE’s recent merger plan with UFC was announced, McMahon stated he’d only be participating in creative at the “higher level,” and not “in the weeds” as he’d done previously. McMahon’s presence became glaring on this week’s “WWE Raw,” as multiple late script revisions were ordered by The Chairman himself. 

We will have to see how Cody Rhodes’ story progresses from this point on. Obviously, he is far from finished, but his attention will now apparently shift to Brock Lesnar for the time being.

With Vince McMahon back in control of things, it’s anyone’s guess how he will change things at the spur of the moment. He hacked up RAW this week, even changing things during the show. Hopefully, Cody Rhodes’ insane merchandise sales will prevent Vince McMahon from outright burying the American Nightmare.

It should be noted that Roman Reigns was always supposed to win at WrestleMania. That would have been the plan whether Vince McMahon was around or not, but it is still an interesting thought that Vince McMahon might find a way to punish Cody over helping start the competition.

What’s your take on this situation with Cody Rhodes in WWE? Do you think Vince McMahon is going to make an example out of Cody Rhodes? Sound off in the comments!