Cody Rhodes Teases Paul Heyman Alliance AGAIN On SmackDown (WWE News)
WWE experimented with on camera babyfacing and off camera heel work for Cody Rhodes.
Cody Rhodes went one step further when implying a close working relationship with Paul Heyman by name-dropping the manager during a sit-down interview with Michael Cole on this week's SmackDown. That'll get a lot of people talking about everything that's been going on lately with the former WWE Champion.
The 'American Nightmare' suggested to Cole that everyone else had changed since he returned to the company, not him. He then said that Heyman saw something in him that few others did. This comes hot on the heels of Rhodes borrowing Paul's "that's not a prediction it's a spoiler" line during a promo opposite Randy Orton on the 21 August episode of SmackDown.
Triple H pushed the plot on social media by sharing off-air footage of Cody pulling Cole in with a stern face and saying he wouldn't hesitate to punt Randy in the skull next time. On camera, Rhodes had given Michael a more polite/diplomatic answer to his question by babyfacing the whole thing, so it's fun that WWE creative tacked on a little more they could share after the fact.
The plot thickens, in other words.
'Good guy' Cody isn't necessarily as friendly as he's making out on screen, which is a fascinating piece of character work. He struggled to pull the trigger and return the punt to Orton at Sunday Night's Main Event, which is something Cole and others picked up on.
It does look likely that Rhodes will be going heel eventually. WWE simply wants to take people on a journey before the inevitable. Plus, Cody still shifts a ton of merchandise, so that must be taken into consideration too.