Cody Rhodes cut a promo at the start of Monday Night Raw‘s third hour this week, officially throwing down the gauntlet for a tiebreaking match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. The beef between the two started way back in April on the first episode of Raw after WrestleMania 39, which started with Lesnar agreeing to be Rhodes’ tag partner for a match against The Bloodline only for the show to end with “The Beast” violently attacking Rhodes just before the tag match could begin. Rhodes escaped Backlash with a win over Lesnar, prompting the former UFC Champion to “break” Rhodes’ arm in a series of attacks. He’d use that injury to help score a knockout win in their rematch at Night of Champions.
Rhodes said he needed a third match with Lesnar because he knew who would win that match would be “next in line,” which seems to indicate he’ll turn his attention back to the world championship picture with a win. He famously failed to capture the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and “finish the story” in the main event of WrestleMania 39 against Roman Reigns back in April, thanks in large part to outside interference from Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa.
Cody Rhodes: “I’m gonna finish the chapter that you started for no damn reason!”
“I WANNA BE NEXT IN LINE!”#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/PIHLL7ZcHZ
That being said, Rhodes doesn’t actually have any interest in winning Raw’s World Heavyweight Championship, which is currently held by Seth Rollins. He explained his thought process in the post-show press conference after beating Dominik Mysterio at Money in the Bank.
“I don’t want to be a downer but no (it doesn’t finish the story),” Rhodes said. “Winning the world heavyweight championship would be outstanding, it would be amazing. It is the title on the flagship show, Monday Night Raw. It absolutely matters, is important, and what Seth is doing with it is a special thing. That title will mean far more in five minutes and then in 10 minutes. Every second it gains equity. But finishing the story was always about the title that my dad didn’t get.”
