Bully Ray: Cody Rhodes Needs To Explain Why He Changed His Mind On WWE WrestleMania 40

A rematch between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship has been made official for WWE WrestleMania XL. However, the road to the match wasn't exactly the smoothest, and it's still not clear how exactly things came together. Speaking on "Busted Open Radio," WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray stated that he had two unanswered questions about the thought process of Rhodes' character onscreen: why did Rhodes state that he wasn't going to challenge Reigns at WrestleMania, and why did he then turn around and challenge Reigns for the big event after all?

"I still don't know why he said that, storyline-wise," Bully said. "Why did Cody change his mind?"

The radio host said that there is at least one explanation that makes sense, which is that Rhodes saw and heard the reaction from fans over him not facing Reigns at WrestleMania XL. Seeing how much it meant to them could be what caused the character, within the storyline, to challenge Reigns once again. However, that doesn't explain what caused Rhodes to scrap the idea of wrestling Reigns at WrestleMania in the first place.

"I don't believe that this was supposed to happen," Bully continued. "I think it was gonna be Rock and Roman, and that's why they backed Cody out. And then the fanbase went ballistic, and that's how they got Cody back in."

It's still not exactly clear how Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will factor into the Reigns-Rhodes story. While it seems like the two cousins were poised for a fight of their own, last week's WrestleMania Kickoff press conference made it clear that Johnson had his cousin's back — for now. The Rock has referred to the reaction to Rhodes over the last several weeks, even coining the term "Cody Crybabies" for some fans, with Rhodes responding on this week's "WWE Raw."

"Great job by Cody leaning into the crybaby stuff, because people are pissed off they were called crybabies for supporting Cody," Bully said. "Lean into it. It's only going to get more heat on The Rock and more love on Cody."

However, Bully feels that Rhodes could have gone even further, leaning into the "Rocky sucks" chants that were emanating from the crowd on Monday. Instead, Rhodes moved on quite quickly to the next section of his promo.

"If I'm Cody, I am fueling that 'Rocky sucks' fire," Bully continued. "One — because it makes Rocky a bigger heel. Two — it makes Cody a bigger babyface. And three — it pisses Rocky off, because he wants to be loved so much."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.