Why Mark Henry & Bully Ray Expect WrestleMania 2024 To Feature Reigns Vs. Rhodes
When Cody Rhodes returned to WWE, he vowed to "finish the story" by winning the WWE Championship, the title that eluded his father. However, when Rhodes got his chance against Roman Reigns, "The American Nightmare" came up short as "The Tribal Chief" narrowly squeaked by with a victory. Then, when Triple H reintroduced the World Heavyweight Championship on "Raw," some felt that Rhodes would move on to the title currently held by Seth "Freakin'" Rollins. Although, the "Grandson of a Plumber" has said time and time again that the tale he's telling only ends with the WWE Title. So will he get back to it and Reigns (if he can hold on to the belts) eventually? Mark Henry and Bully Ray seem to think so.
On "Busted Open," the two legends predicted that Reigns and Rhodes will collide for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship once again next year at Wrestlemania 40 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "The World's Strongest Man" declared that it would be hard to get back to that point after everything happening with The Bloodline right now, but it is absolutely imperative that the story comes back around to that point eventually.
"It has to be, for the simple fact of how you felt the day after Wrestlemania," he said. "Everybody is hanging on that. It still stings. The wound is still open. It's not closed. How you get to it is going to be difficult, but that's a part of the story."
The Perfect Storm
As for Bully, he whole-heartedly agreed that the long-term nature of both Reigns' and Rhodes' stories is what makes them so interesting to the WWE Universe. Even though the story right now (and in general, according to the ECW Original) is about Jey Uso, the WWE Hall of Famer is confident that the company will circle back to the two royal families after the Bloodline Civil War and it will all come to a head in Philadelphia.
"This is what you're getting with The Bloodline: The perfect storm of characters meets storytelling," Bully said. "The big money in pro wrestling, the longevity of drawing money is in storytelling and characters. Yes, you will get your quick hit one-nighters that'll draw a boatload of money, but if you want to make lots of money for a long time, you do it the way Gorgeous George did it and you do it the way all the old schoolers did it way before us. Because when it's done right, you can't beat it."
Time will tell if Henry and Bully's predictions come to fruition, but it does seem like a rematch between Reigns and Rhodes is definitely in the cards. After all, it doesn't seem like Rhodes would have left AEW if something like the WWE Championship wasn't on the horizon for him.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.