WrestleMania 39: WWE Abandons HUGE Cody Rhodes Pitch

Here's what Cody Rhodes WON'T be doing at WWE WrestleMania 39, sadly...

by Andy H Murray
Cody Rhodes WWE Champion
WWE

While WWE's true plans for Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39 are yet to come to light, one thing 'The American Nightmare' won't be doing, sadly, is wrestling John Cena.

Fightful Select reports that Cena's status for the biggest wrestling event of the year is currently unclear. Unnamed WWE wrestlers had been pushing to work with him as far back as July, with the internal conversation moving to Logan Paul or Austin Theory as potential opponents more recently. Rhodes vs. Cena had been pitched several times under WWE's previous leadership regime, though talk of this has dried up since the company's executive chairman.

Vince McMahon resigned in disgrace from his position as WWE Chairman and CEO on 22 July. Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan have since been appointed co-CEOs, with McMahon also taking the Chairwoman's role. Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, meanwhile, has ascended in power as an Executive Vice President and head of creative.

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Cody Rhodes has been injured since facing Seth Rollins at Hell In A Cell 2022 on 5 June. Having returned to the promotion in sensational fashion last April, he remains amongst the favourites to win this month's men's Royal Rumble.

Cena, meanwhile, returned to the WWE ring on last week's SmackDown, teaming with Kevin Owens in a win over The Bloodline's Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.