WATCH: Cody Rhodes issues apology to fans in his first public appearance after controversial SmackDown 

Despite a recent setback, Cody Rhodes continued to display generosity and maintain his humble nature in interactions with fans.

WATCH: Cody Rhodes issues apology to fans in his first public appearance after controversial SmackDown 

Cody Rhodes interacting with fans (via X/@ShawnFinchum)

The WWE Road to WrestleMania commenced with a live event in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Saturday, February 3. The show boasted a lineup of prominent stars from both RAW and SmackDown, with the main event featuring Cody Rhodes and Shinsuke Nakamura. After the main event, Cody Rhodes as usual had a heartwarming interaction with the crowd.

In a candid video shared on social media platform X, The American Nightmare can be seen enjoying with the crowd after the main event. He promised to give a broken piece of the table to the fan who cheered the loudest. The Royal Rumble winner also apologized beforehand to the fans. In case he couldn’t sign some autographs and pictures which he promised to do earlier.

YouTube video

Cody Rhodes was genuinely enjoying the event and he somehow seemed unaffected by the recent Smackdown controversy. On the last episode of Smackdown, Rock made a surprising return. Some fans claim he potentially abused his power to insert himself into the main event of WrestleMania.

FS Video

During the fan interaction, Cody Rhodes very calmly controlled his promo and didn’t mention anything about The Rock or the Smackdown segment. The American Nightmare is scheduled in a Bull Rope match on the upcoming Raw. With Cody potentially gifting his WrestleMania spot to The Rock, the road to WrestleMania is becoming intriguing for the American Nightmare.

WWE’s reason for taking the Cody Rhodes WrestleMania spot revealed

WWE’s decision to replace Cody Rhodes in WrestleMania with The Rock did not go down with fans nicely. The WWE faced severe backlash for this decision. With #WeWantCody trending all over social media. The reason for this decision is reported to be Rock using his power to ‘Save the WrestleMania’ and insert himself in the main event.

The Rock and Cody Rhodes
The Rock and Cody Rhodes (via WWE)

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, the intention for this decision is that WWE is hoping to turn him into the next Daniel Bryan and turn Cody into an even bigger baby face. WWE is hoping that fans will get behind Rhodes and start something similar to the famous ‘Yes Movement‘.

I don’t know what they were expecting, but they were expecting Cody Rhodes turning Daniel Bryan, yes. They were expecting to make Cody Rhodes a new martyr, and make him a bigger babyface out of that.
Dave Meltzer via Wrestling Observer Radio

The Daniel Bryan story is similar to what is happening currently. Due to the poor booking decision by WWE, the fans were outraged when Batista won the Royal Rumble in 2014. Every wrestling fan at that time wanted Daniel Bryan to main-event WrestleMania, but WWE opted to pick part-timer, Batista. Fans turned on WWE after that decision and Daniel Bryan became one of the most loved babyface. Now, WWE’s creative team is hoping to recreate something similar and make Cody Rhodes the biggest babyface in the Wrestling world.

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