“No Real Story”: Cody Rhodes’ Backlash Booking Pointed Out Amid Sudden Fan Uproar Against WWE Champion

Cody Rhodes scored the much-anticipated victory at WrestleMania XL, finishing his story after more than a year. All this while, the new champion regularly kept delivering promos for WWE during the weekly shows. However, we didn’t see Cody Rhodes defend his title yet. It looks like his first title defense will be seen at WWE Backlash.

The Stamford-based company is all set to fly off to France to host the PLE on May 4th. The first event after WrestleMania XL will host Cody Rhodes’ first title defense since victory, and a former employee has something to say about this feud.

Cody Rhodes’ first title match after Mania gets a green light

Conrad Thompson started talking about Cody Rhodes’ first feud on the 83 Weeks podcast. He asked Eric Bischoff for his thoughts on whether he thinks the feud WWE chose for their new champion was the right decision, according to him. To this end, the ex-WCW employee green-lit the current feud that they have selected for Rhodes.

Eric Bischoff said, “I would not have thrusted him immediately into a precarious situation with a big, nasty heel with no real story. Now if that’s what I wanted to get to, I’d take my time to get there.” He claimed to have learned the hard way, through his booking experience, that the story in pro wrestling matters.

Although WWE seems to be building Cody Rhodes’ story toward a big bad heel after all, his first rival has been unveiled to be AJ Styles. Even though fans at first lashed out at WWE, ranting about how Cody Rhodes is a rather boring champion, the WWE legend believes that AJ Styles is the perfect choice for his first title defense.

What does Cody Rhodes’ future look like in WWE?

On Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania XL, The Rock showed up to cut Cody Rhodes’ promo in between. He then teased a feud between the two superstars that is likely to take place in the future when Dwayne Johnson returns to the promotion again. So, in this way, WWE seems to have established a storyline that will build up as Johnson is the “Final Boss” for Cody Rhodes’ story in the current era.

However, for starters, they expanded AJ Styles’ feud with LA Knight into an upcoming feud with the reigning undisputed WWE Universal Champion. While there is a high possibility that AJ Styles will end up losing the potential main event, the result can’t be finalized until Backlash 2024.

Do you think WWE made the right move by starting with a smaller threat for Cody Rhodes?