Cody Rhodes defeats his forgotten tag team partner after SmackDown goes off the air

Cody Rhodes has had quite a few tag team partners over the years. The names that spring to mind include Ted Dibiase Jr., Damien Sandow, his brother Goldust, and most recently, Jey Uso. But an often forgotten tag team partner of Cody's was his opponent tonight after WWE SmackDown, and The American Nightmare won. This former tag partner was Drew McIntyre.

Despite all the verbal fire being thrown his way by The Rock just a week after Cody slapped him, The American Nightmare didn't appear on the blue brand tonight. Instead, he only appeared in the post-show dark match which is usually meant to send the crowd home happy. This was most definitely needed after Damage CTRL stood tall following their assault on Bayley and Naomi.

Cody teamed with McIntyre to win tag team titles all the way back in 2010. Most people aren't even aware that they were champions together. Regardless, the two WrestleMania World Title challengers faced off on the SmackDown dark match and Cody won after sending McIntyre through a table via a punch and then pinning him.

While the finish left a lot to be desired, the live crowd in Memphis was likely just happy to see their hero Cody pick up the win against Drew McIntyre - who has become one of WWE's most despicable villains of late.

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The Rock verbally decimated Cody Rhodes on WWE SmackDown

The Rock didn't respond kindly to getting slapped by Cody Rhodes last week. While he took a fairly brief shot at Seth Rollins by stating that his wife (Becky Lynch) was more popular than him, the focus of his verbal decimation was The American Nightmare himself.

Not only did he fire several shots at Cody, including mentioning how he was a 'mistake' when Dusty Rhodes mixed drugs and con**ms, but he also sent a serious message to his mother.

The Rock has been furious with Cody for well over a month now and The American Nightmare even challenged him to a singles match - something The Rock would decline. Instead, he offered a tag team match which will most probably headline WrestleMania 40 Night One.