Watch: Former champion attacks Cody Rhodes at WWE live event

Cody Rhodes was attacked by a former rival during a WWE live event over the weekend. The American Nightmare won the Men's Royal Rumble match this past Friday night, but it doesn't seem that he will be able to finish his story at WrestleMania 40, and now he has Shinsuke Nakamura to deal with.

Rhodes sent CM Punk soaring over the top rope to win his 2nd Men's Royal Rumble match in a row. The 38-year-old appeared on this past Friday's SmackDown and stated that he is still coming after Roman Reigns' title, but just not at WrestleMania.

The Rock then showed up and seemingly took Rhodes' spot against Roman Reigns at the biggest show of the year. WWE's decision did not go over well with fans who tune into the product every week and have been waiting to see Rhodes finish his story.

Cody Rhodes' weekend got even worse when he was attacked by a former rival at a live event. The promotion shared footage of Shinsuke Nakamura attacking Cody Rhodes backstage at the event today on social media.

WWE veteran believes LA Knight deserves a story similar to Cody Rhodes

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently compared LA Knight to Cody Rhodes and claimed that The Megastar deserved a similar story.

Speaking on an episode of Sportskeeda's Smack Talk last year, Dutch Mantell noted that LA Knight spent years wrestling on the independent scene before he finally made it as a WWE Superstar. Mantell noted that Knight has also developed a connection with the crowd.

"And you talk about Cody Rhodes’ hard times story, that’s really LA Knight’s story because he hung around and hung around and hung around and went to all these different places….went to NXT and he went to Impact, but he had to wait till somebody gave him the chance and then they brought him out and beat the living s**t out of him for the first two months and look at him now because he’s got something and there’s no way you can physically explain it other than he just connects with the crowd." [56:46 - 57:22]

The reaction to Rhodes potentially losing his WrestleMania spot to The Rock has been overwhelmingly negative so far. However, a report claims that the company will not be altering its plans despite the incredible amount of negativity surrounding the decision at the moment.

What was your reaction to the final moments of this past Friday's episode of WWE SmackDown? Let us know in the comments section below.