Absolute CHAOS As Cody Rhodes Finishes His Story At WWE WrestleMania 40

In gloriously overbooked fashion, Cody Rhodes is your new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE WrestleMania XL Cody Rhodes
WWE

One year after coming up short in the WrestleMania main event, Cody Rhodes has now finally finished his story to embark on a fresh story as the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.

In a gloriously over-stuffed, over-booked, frankly ridiculous main event, the American Nightmare pinned Roman Reigns after hitting the Tribal Chief with three of his patented Cross Rhodes. But that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Competed under Bloodline Rules, the WrestleMania XL Night 2 main event saw interference from Jimmy Uso, which was quickly neutralised by Jey Uso. After that, came Solo Sikoa, who himself was eventually taken out by John Cena. As for Cena, his involvement was brought to a halt after the Rock came out and hit a Rock Bottom. Just as the Great One was about to whip Cody with his weight belt, the Shield's music shockingly hit, which brought out a steel chair-carrying Seth Rollins who was decked out in full Shield gear. Unfortunately for Rollins - who'd worked a knee injury earlier in the night as he dropped the World Heavyweight Championship to Drew McIntyre, who was subsequently cashed in on by Damian Priest - he was immediately stopped in his tracks by a Superman Punch. And while some had hoped for 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, the infamous, ominous gong of the Undertaker brought the Phenom out to nail the Final Boss with a chokeslam.

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It was only after all of that, that Rhodes vs. Reigns got into its final sequence. With both Rhodes and Rollins down, the Head of the Table had a steel chair in hand and opted to strike Seth rather than Cody, bringing Roman some form of long-standing revenge for Rollins attacking Reigns from behind with a chair as part of the Shield's initial break-up.

From there, Cody Rhodes took the chance to hit those three Cross Rhodes, leading to an emotional celebration in a ring that ended up packed with Mama Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes, Brodie Lee Jr., various Rhodes family members, a bunch of WWE babyfaces, and even Bruce Prichard and Paul Levesque.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.