3 Reasons why Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship reign has fallen flat

When Cody Rhodes finished his story and became the new Undisputed WWE Champion, the expectation was that he would become the face of the company and would emerge as the top star in the business.

Even though The American Nightmare has become a megastar, his championship run has fallen flat to the point where there have been occasional "We want Roman' chants during his segments.

With that in mind, we take a look at three possible reasons why Cody Rhodes' championship run has fallen flat.

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#3. He didn't have credible heel opponents in the first months of his championship reign

The first couple of opponents Cody faced after his epic title win were AJ Styles and Logan Paul. Many felt neither superstar was world championship candidates, even though Logan Paul was the United States Champion at the time, so it wasn't easy for WWE to build some hype for The American Nightmare.

Things changed late in the summer onwards, as Cody Rhodes got involved in The Bloodline civil war, and also put his title on the line against Solo Sikoa at SummerSlam.

His latest opponent was Kevin Owens, who has done a great job as a heel, but WWE has KO to potentially continue his feud with Randy Orton, once the latter is back from his injury.

#2. Cody Rhodes has missed big premium live events

Even though he has been a fighting champion since he claimed the title back at WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes hasn't defended his title in all of the subsequent PLEs.

As a matter of fact, The American Nightmare retained his title in six premium live events (Saturday Night's Main Event, Bash in Berlin, SummerSlam, Clash at the Castle, Backlash, and King & Queen of the Ring), while he participated in a tag team match at Money in the Bank and Bad Blood.

In the past three months, he defended his title on two occassions, once on SmackDown and then at Saturday Night's Main Event a couple of weeks ago.

What some fans saw as a sign that his championship reign had become flat was that he didn't work the last big PLE of 2024 - Survivor Series, and his title match against Kevin Owens was moved to the next special event - Saturday Night's Main Event.

The reason appeared to be the Bloodline civil war and the WarGames match between The OG Bloodline and The New Bloodline, which main evented the show and overshadowed Cody Rhodes' rivalry with KO.

#1. His championship reign has been overshadowed by The Bloodline saga

Since Roman Reigns was on a hiatus for four months following WrestleMania, and Solo Sikoa took over The Bloodline, the civil war between the factions after Roman's comeback has overshadowed Cody Rhodes on SmackDown.

The rivalry between The New Bloodline and The OG Bloodline has main evented SmackDown for months. The WWE creative team has focused more on The Bloodline civil war, and even though Cody has defended his title several times, The Bloodline segments have attracted fans' attention more than The American Nightmare and his feud with Kevin Owens.

Fast forward to early 2025, this could change, as The American Nightmare could move to RAW in early January, as Netflix reportedly wants the top names in WWE. At the same time, The Rock's return and a feud with The Final Boss will bring more attention to Cody's segments and title reign.