5 signs Cody Rhodes will dethrone Roman Reigns at WWE WrestleMania 40

Cody Rhodes defeated 29 other men at the 2024 Royal Rumble Premium Live Event to earn a World Championship match of his choosing at WWE WrestleMania XL.

The American Nightmare won the Men's Royal Rumble match for the second year in a row and became the fourth superstar to win the Rumble back-to-back. Rhodes joined Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and Shawn Michaels in the list of men who have achieved the prestigious feat.

After his win, it looked like Rhodes would challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania, but on last week's episode of SmackDown, the former AEW star said that he would go after The Tribal Chief, but not at The Show of Shows and seemingly gave his spot to the returning The Rock.

However, this could just be WWE trying to swerve the fans on the Road to WrestleMania, as the latest signs from the company indicate that Rhodes is yet to make his final decision and possibly will choose Reigns at The Show of Shows.

Now, let's take a look at five signs Cody Rhodes will dethrone Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40.

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#5. WWE acknowledging the support for Cody Rhodes

After Cody Rhodes seemingly gave his WrestleMania spot to The Rock on SmackDown after Royal Rumble, fans and several pro wrestlers showed support for The American Nightmare online as the hashtag "We Want Cody" trended on social media over the last weekend.

WWE acknowledged the support for Rhodes on this week's episode of RAW as the company allowed fans to bring the "We Want Cody" signs to the show and even showed them on camera.

In addition, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Michael Cole also acknowledged the "Rocky Su*ks" chants from the fans in the opening segment of RAW.

WWE acknowledging the support for Rhodes on their programming could be an indication that the company sees him as the guy to dethrone Roman Reigns.

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#4. Cody Rhodes' cryptic tweet

Cody Rhodes looked disappointed when he walked out of the ring at the end of the latest episode of SmackDown, but it seems like he knows something that the fans are not aware of yet.

After the massive support the former Intercontinental Champion received on social media and at WWE events since last Friday night, Rhodes took to Twitter to ask the fans to trust him, stating:

"Appreciate the passion, God bless y’all …but. Trust me"

Based on his tweet, it seems like WWE may have something huge planned for The American Nightmare come WrestleMania.

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#3. WWE teasing Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn as Seth Rollins' next opponents

In the opening segment of this week's RAW, Drew McIntyre interrupted Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins as the Scottish Warrior once again expressed his desire for a World Heavyweight Championship match.

McIntyre took out Rollins in the segment and then ambushed Rhodes in the main event. On the other hand, Sami Zayn stated in an interview with Jackie Redmond that he no longer considers himself an underdog and is a contender to be a champion now.

Zayn and McIntyre have a feud going on, and it looks like WWE is planning to involve Rollins in it, too. The company may have The Visionary defend his title against McIntyre and Zayn in a Triple-Threat match at WrestleMania.

Therefore, The American Nightmare may end up facing Roman Reigns at The Show of Shows, where he would likely defeat him to win the Undisputed WWE Universal title.

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#2. WWE has yet to officially announce The Rock vs. Roman Reigns

Despite Cody Rhodes seemingly giving up his spot in the main event of WrestleMania for The Rock, WWE has not officially announced a match between The Great One and Roman Reigns yet.

Michael Cole also emphasized the fact that the match has not been made official yet during this week's episode of RAW.

WWE also released a video on YouTube of the segment between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns from SmackDown after the show in which the title stated that The American Nightmare laid out his "WrestleMania" plan for The Tribal Chief.

WWE will hold a WrestleMania XL Kickoff at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Thursday, where Reigns and Rock will have a face-off.

Rhodes could end up crashing the event to set up his WrestleMania bout with Reigns.

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#1. Rumors of WWE wanting to make Cody Rhodes Daniel Bryan 2.0

Cody Rhodes is currently one of the most over babyfaces in professional wrestling, and the support for him has increased massively after what happened on SmackDown last week.

Just like The American Nightmare, Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson in AEW) was extremely popular among the fans on the Road to WrestleMania 30 back in 2014.

WWE did not have Bryan enter the Men's Royal Rumble match and gave WWE Hall of Famer Batista the win that year, which led to the rise of the Yes Movement.

Fans hijacked the shows for Bryan that year, which led to the multi-time World Champion defeating Triple H at the start of WrestleMania 30 to book his spot in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship Triple-Threat match against Randy Orton and Batista in the main event the same night.

Rumors have surfaced online in the past couple of days that WWE is expecting Rhodes to get a reaction like Bryan from the fans, so this may be an indication that the company plans to crown him as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at the Grandest Stage Of Them All.