Why WWE Doesn't Want Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns On TV Together (WWE News)
Why we haven't seen Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns on-screen together.
With the WarGames matches now starting to flesh out ahead of Survivor Series later this month, many are predicting that Roman Reigns will be added to the babyface side for the men's WarGames. However, the Tribal Chief has been absent from WWE TV since losing to Bronson Reed at Crown Jewel last month.
Where Roman is concerned, Ibou of Self Made is under the impression that somebody does want to see the OTC sharing TV time with Cody Rhodes right now.
Ibou notes that he was told around the time of SummerSlam that WWE wanted to have CM Punk, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, and Roman Reigns all featured together in that WarGames match. There are "hurdles" around putting that team together, though, with it noted that "either Cody Rhodes or Roman Reigns is resistant to appearing on-screen with the other" unless it's setting the stage to build to a third singles match between them. And on that topic, a third Rhodes vs. Reigns bout is not currently planned.
The idea of putting those four names together at WarGames was, unsurprisingly, designed as a way to push ticket sales for Survivor Series. Ibou added that, a month after SummerSlam, he was told that Cody Rhodes was not going to be in WarGames, and that the American Nightmare would instead be defending his WWE Championship at this upcoming PLE. Again, it was said that one of Cody or Roman is saying "either I can't be on-screen with Cody or, vice-versa, I can't be on-screen with Roman" unless a third one-on-one match is being lined up for the two.
Essentially, the concern here is that if you put Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns on TV together, some fans might start anticipating a third match between them. And if you've no plans for that third match, maybe you don't want to put these rivals on-screen with each other.
As seen on this week's Raw, the men's WarGames match is currently CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and Jey Uso going up against Logan Paul, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed. Of course, fans are already speculating about a fourth, and possibly even a fifth, member for each team, with Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso, and LA Knight amongst those names being rumoured to join Punk, Cody, and Main Event Jey. As for the heel team, Brock Lesnar and, somewhat surprisingly, Austin Theory are a couple of talents who have been speculated about lining up with the Vision and the Maverick.
While their history goes all the way back to 2013, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns have more recently been heated WrestleMania rivals, competing against each other for the WWE Championship - well, technically the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship - at WrestleManias 39 and 40.
WWE Survivor Series: WarGames takes place on Saturday 29 November.