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WWE missed a huge opportunity at WrestleMania XL when 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin was nowhere around to help Cody Rhodes during his championship match against Roman Reigns on Night Two of the event.
Earlier this month, rumors were afloat that Stone Cold would appear in the main event of WrestleMania XL to help Cody. Instead, The Undertaker appeared and assisted Rhodes against The Final Boss and The Bloodline. Meanwhile, ex-WWE star Ryback also gave his thoughts on the matter.
Fans and critics unsurprisingly wanted The Texas Rattlesnake at The Show of Shows. Speaking on Ryback TV, The Big Guy spoke about the entire segment and stated that the company failed the fans in bringing Austin. Moreover, he thought the promotion should've paid the amount the Hall of Famer stated for the appearance.
"If you want him to give Cody Rhodes the Stone Cold Steve Austin rub, you better pay that man what he wants, if you want him to go give him that rub. They [WWE] didn't. They were not willing to do that. He knows the value of his name and now he's attaching his name to Cody Rhodes [...] It's Stone Cold Steve Austin, that is a rub of a lifetime. He's not done that with anybody [...] Stone Cold Steve Austin understands this and WWE failed. That's on them. That's on Hunter and WWE or whoever made that decision on not pulling the trigger on that [...] They'll try to put that out there to make him look bad [...] I bet you the number he wanted was not that ridiculous," said Ryback. [From 0:25 to 1:40]
You can check out his comments in the video below:
Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes will defend his title at Backlash 2024
After over two years, the world championship returned to a full-time star as Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar were on part-time schedules since 2022.
Cody Rhodes put the title back on the map as he aims to be a great champion similar to The Tribal Chief. Moreover, he looks forward to breaking and setting new limits as the face of the company.
On the recent episode of Friday Night SmackDown, AJ Styles defeated LA Knight and secured a one-on-one match with The American Nightmare for the title at Backlash in France.
What are your thoughts on Cody Rhodes? Hit the discuss button and sound off!
If you use any quotes from the article, please credit Ryback TV and provide an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
