The greatest world title run of the modern era in WWE is now officially over as Cody Rhodes finally gets his chance to be the man.
Roman Reigns had dominated WWE for 1,316 days before WrestleMania 40 night two. Rhodes had been trying to finish his story for his entire life, complete with a pit stop on the independents and AEW.
Now, a Rhodes can say they have held a world title in WWE. Now, Reigns’ world title run is in the record books.
It’s not quite the longest ever (it’s third longest, to be exact). But it may well be the greatest ever.
The match kicked off with the rivals soaking in the atmosphere in the 73,000-strong Philadelphia Financial Field stadium, coming face-to-face before getting into their early exchanges.
Cody Rhodes was surrounded by some of the most important people in his career for his win
Cody Rhodes couldn’t have had a better foil for his title win than Roman Reigns
It should come as no surprise that Reigns dominated proceedings, painting Rhodes as the gutsy underdog. Around the 15 minute mark, the pair began trading finishers – even each other’s finishers – and last second kickouts.
With Roman in trouble, Jimmy Uso came to the rescue. However, he was met by his twin brother Jey Uso, who fought him on the stage and speared him off of said stage and through a table.
Then when Rhodes had Reigns compromised and locked in Cross Rhodes, Solo Sikoa made his presence felt. After a Spear and Samoan Spike combination couldn’t get the job done, John Cena had seen enough.
The 16-time world champion was then met by The Rock who Rock Bottomed him out of the mix. Then Seth Rollins tried to get The Rock in full Shield get-up, but Reigns intercepted him.
The Undertaker’s gong rang out and the Deadman appeared behind The Rock to Chokeslam him out of comission.
With all interference taken care of, Rhodes delivered three Cross Rhodes to finally put Reigns away and win the belt that had eluded him for a lifetime.