The American Nightmare ends The Tribal Chief’s historic 1,316 day run as WWE Universal Champion
Photo Credit: WWE.com, Cody Rhodes finishes the story by conquering Roman Reigns at WrestleMania
In an epic and captivating main event, Cody Rhodes finally finished his story, bringing to a close over 2 years of storytelling. The Bloodline Rules match opened with just Cody and Roman going head-to-head with both competitors showing up in the best physical condition of their respective careers.
Roman dominated Cody for much of the match, hitting Cody with his own Cross Rhodes finisher and taunting him “That move sucks. That move don’t beat nobody”. Cody countered by hitting Roman with spears of his own.
But inevitably, the interference came. Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, The Rock, Seth Rollins, John Cena, and shockingly, The Undertaker himself showed up to help their man win. In the end, Cody hit 3 final Cross Rhodes to get the three count.
The Philly crowd erupted into a thunderous celebration of Cody’s win. He was soon joined in the ring by his wife Brandi, his mother, several family members, and the whole roster of top faces. Coincidentally, these were all men who had fallen to Roman over the last 4 years of his incredible run as champion–some, but far from all: LA Knight, Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, and others.
Cody took the mic and also invited Bruce Pritchard and Chief Content Officer Triple H to join in the celebration, before heading down to embrace an emotional Michael Cole. As the epic night drew to a close, the WWE Universe celebrated the dawn of a new era, as Cole declared: “I love professional wrestling!”, a term that was previously banned under Vince McMahon’s tenure.
