Why Triple H's Biggest WWE Blunder Is Hidden In Plain Sight

The third WWE boom - like all wrestling booms - will one day meet its demise, but WrestleMania 40 was positioned as the very beginning of a new era rather than a golden period plateauing. It wasn't going to be as simple as calling the 'Show Of Shows' a season finale of course, but wrestling has historically struggled with how to follow up epic chases and Cody Rhodes' might be the most cinematic yet. In real sports, the old adage remains that it's harder to defend titles than win them, and that extends somewhat to pro wrestling too. The first matches are harder to sell based on how unlikely it is that the Champion will lose, but then the longer the reign goes, the more fans stand a chance of growing tired of something they've wearily become accustomed to.

Where exactly will things settle in WWE for the former All Elite Wrestling EVP?

This is the only question that really matters. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, but everything in wrestling is case-by-case and Cody Rhodes is an extremely special case. Champions such as Becky Lynch, Kofi Kingston and Drew McIntyre were babyfaces people were desperate to see fulfil their potential following WrestleMania wins, but for a multitude of different reasons, the tenures failed to manifest periods that came close to matching the ascent.

The reasons why aren't to be entirely ignored, but it's just as important to understand why Cody Rhodes is a different beast altogether. In understanding that, it's easier to understand why something as ostensibly harmless as a move to SmackDown is already polluting the sparkling springs people dove headfirst into between the two years that fused his iconic return and eventual triumph.

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