Last weekend, Cody Rhodes proved to be a mainstay on the WWE roster after he won the Royal Rumble event in spectacular fashion, in his first match back from injury.
The 37-year-old wrestler was sidelined by a torn right pectoral tendon injury that he suffered prior to his 2022 Hell in a Cell match. Despite wrestling with the injury, Cody managed to come out victorious, defeating Seth Rollins for the third time in his career. Shortly afterward, Cody underwent surgery, and although he was expected to be out for nine months, he successfully completed his rehab in seven months.
Earlier this month, The American Nightmare announced his return, stating he would be available to compete at the Royal Rumble match on January 28. Burdened with glorious purpose, Cody proceeded to eliminate Dominik Mysterio, Austin Theory, Braun Strowman, Logan Paul, and Gunther to win the match and book a ticket to the highly anticipated WrestleMania 39.
On this week's episode of Monday Night RAW, Rhodes formally challenged the current WWE champ Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Later in the night, WWE confirmed the match would take place at WrestleMania 39. In addition to this, PW Insider revealed that Cody Rhodes will be attached to the Raw brand going forward.
It's clear that WWE is focused on maximizing the positive attention Cody is currently getting from fans. At the Royal Rumble post-show press conference, Cody announced WWE's plans to release merchandise centered around his torn pectoral tendon injury, saying:
I went out and I was in there with an unbelievable wrestler in Seth Rollins, an unbelievable Superstar. I'm glad people like it [the Hell in a Cell match]. Please don't get irritated with the amount of merchandise that's going to come out around that pec, 'cause by god, y'all ... if you thought my AEW figures were bad, whew, we're buckling up. It's really cool, but I hope people don't get too annoyed with it.
Cody's future on the Raw brand will be very promising if he can manage to end Roman's historic reign as the Universal Champion come April.
