Cody Rhodes defending his title against Bloodline member would be a mistake, says Rikishi; reason explained

Cody Rhodes has been involved in The Bloodline story for quite a long time now. Though he finished his story by defeating The Original Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns, at WrestleMania XL, he has not been able to get rid of The Bloodline. While Rhodes has defeated Solo Sikoa twice for the title now, anticipation for a potential Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu match has been building up.

Jacob Fatu has been portrayed as one of the most dominant forces on the entire WWE roster ever since he made his entry in the Stamford-based promotion. The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes, a couple of weeks ago on SmackDown, issued a challenge to face Jacob Fatu with his Undisputed WWE Title on the line.

While Solo Sikoa ordered Fatu to stay away, fans have expressed their excitement for the match. In a recent episode of his Off The Top podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi felt WWE was pushing Fatu too fast, and a match against Cody Rhodes this early would be a mistake.

Explaining why he felt putting Jacob Fatu against Cody Rhodes so early was a mistake, Rikishi added that WWE should showcase the 32-year-old's talent in enhancement matches first.

"I think Jacob is being pushed too fast. When you go to Cody, where do you go from there? Cody is 'The Guy' right now. I’ve said this before, let Jacob rampage through the whole roster. You know, give him a couple of those enhancement matches, you know what I mean, to build. He doesn’t need about three minutes to, you know," said the Hall of Famer. [11:40 to 12:05]

He further added:

"Again, we’ve seen Jacob, however long he’s been on, a couple of months or whatever. But is there anything different you’ve seen? You can only do so much on the run. This is me; this is what I’m saying, right? If you really want to go with a guy, show his talent. Put him out there with somebody. Let him have a, you know, not a match-match, a squash match, but just so he can show his potential of what else this kid can do. (...) I just feel it it was me, I wouldn't feed Jacob to Cody. That match is not deserving yet to happen yet," he added. [12:05 - 13:04]

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Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu set to face each other in tag team action

The American Nightmare felt he was done with The Bloodline when Roman Reigns returned. During this week's episode of SmackDown, the Undisputed WWE Champion expressed that he wanted to get away from the faction, given it was family business now.

However, with Jacob Fatu by his side, Solo Sikoa issued a challenge to the unlikely duo of Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. While both men didn't like the idea, they signed the contract for the tag match and are now set to take on Sikoa and Fatu at WWE Bad Blood. Fans will have to wait and see what happens when both teams collide at the premium live event.

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