Clash at the Castle 2024: How Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns made it acceptable to enjoy wrestling again

The WWE continues to be hosted by the OVO Hydro tonight with their latest Premium Live Event, WWE Clash at the Castle: Scotland.

And despite the boom that pro wrestling is having at the moment, with the WWE and AEW touting sell-out crowds, strong pay-per-view/Premium Live Event figures and television deals that rival many other “real” sports, there are still sentiments that wrestling is little more than a “violent pantomime.”

It doesn’t help that for some casual fans, their impression of professional wrestling boils down to certain eras of the sport; some fondly remember World of Sport and the day Big Daddy unmasked the infamous Kendo Nagasaki, as older women swung their handbags at the heels (bad guy wrestlers.)

Some recall the golden age of Rock ‘n’ Wrestling, where over-the-top characters such as Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and the early career of The Undertaker. That time “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith pinned Bret Hart at Summerslam 1992 in front of a hometown crowd - hopefully, Drew McIntyre similarly pulls at Clash at the Castle: Scotland this evening. 

But for a far few, wrestling is that weird “sport” where men in underpants grapple with one another, and characters are based on professions; Duke “The Dumpster” Droese was a garbage man, Isaac Yankem D.D.S was an evil dentist (who would later become The Undertaker’s evil brother) and Doink The Clown was the type of children’s entertainer you’d be giving poor TrustPilot reviews to.

But a lot has changed; twice over, if you're familiar with the boom period in the mid-90s when World Championship Wrestling went on an 83-week winning streak with “Monday Night Nitro” against the WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” programme. A smaller promotion called Extreme Championship Wrestling influenced the wrestling spectrum in its special way and the WWE turned to more mature themes - dubbed “The Attitude Era.”

So what’s happened recently that might change your mind and get you invested in this evening’s WWE event - or potentially cast your net out further and try All Elite Wrestling before they come to Wembley Stadium later this year? 

The Bloodline Saga and Cody Rhodes story - on par with prestige television

Gone are the days of the rogue bad guy stealing the good guy’s title and/or girl, only for the good guy to valiantly overcome the odds, save the girl and win the title. Well, they still exist but in a “nod, wink” reference to the audience.

While to demonstrate to anyone out there who may think I am biased towards the WWE, let me first give credit to All Elite Wrestling’s storyline regarding Adam Page’s redemption from “Anxious Millennial Cowboy” with self-doubt to AEW World Champion. 

Matt Cardona’s run on the independent circuit as the smarmy former WWE wrestler having to lower himself to wrestle in front of bingo hall crowds and garbage wrestling promotions is also a great example of pro wrestling being meta-referential - it knows that it’s not “real.” 

But in fairness, there was only one big storyline that spanned years, with a slow burn of triumph, failure and an “Avengers: Endgame” takedown of the company’s final boss - for now. 

Actually, there are two: and both culminated in some way at WWE’s Wrestlemania event earlier this year, as Roman Reigns’ years-long run as WWE Undisputed Championship and The Bloodline Saga came to the end of its chapter. 

Meanwhile, a beloved face (good guy wrestler) and prodigal son of the WWE, Cody Rhodes, made his return after leaving the company, helping form a wrestling promotion that gave the WWE a run for its money, and going from undesirable to undeniable. 

The bout would mark the second time Reigns and Rhodes competed at “the showcase of the immortals,” having met in 2023’s main event with Cody Rhodes looking to finish his story and win the coveted World title his father, the legendary Dusty Rhodes, never did. 

His year-long chase ended in defeat, through the interference of Solo Sikoa, a member of Reign’s Bloodline. You see, before Cody Rhodes returned to the company, back when we were all told to stay in our homes, Roman Reigns began “his” epic story.

Part 1: The Bloodline Saga

Roman Reigns made his WWE return at SummerSlam 2020, after a hiatus and a short while later, became our “Tribal Chief,” “The Head of the Table” and the WWE Universal Champion. But this reign was to be unlike his previous ones, where fans felt the “underdog” babyface Reigns was being forced upon us.

This was a nasty, brutal, gaslighting, manipulative, straight Machiavellian Roman Reigns. His storyline involved the emotional manipulation of his family members, guerilla-style sneak attacks on his opponents, mind games with management to get what he wanted, toppling former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar to unify another WWE World title and all the while demanding that we “acknowledge” him for all his greatest.

He was the best kind of heel; this was what wrestling fans hoped for a long time we’d see from Roman Reigns. It’s much the case how fans felt about another wrestler that was forced on us, John Cena. We liked John Cena the person, but we were getting very bored with John Cena the character.

The Roman Reigns of terror became captivating throughout the pandemic, elevated by the lack of a live crowd, and the smaller space the WWE used which allowed wrestlers to be heard in the ring. 

Sometimes to the detriment of the product, but whoever clued Roman Reigns up to this fact was astute - Reigns conversing with his family and his opponent, while not having to address a live audience, felt like we were watching a television show. Not a sporting event. 

Part 2: The Prodigy Son Returns to finish his story

Cody Rhodes left the WWE in 2016, unhappy with the direction his career seemed to be heading after performing under the “Stardust” gimmick - which to Cody’s credit somehow made into his own. 

He took to X, back then known as Twitter, to explain very publicly his frustrations that led to his request to leave the company. “My goal in pro-wrestling has always been to win the WWE Championship. For a decade I tried to convince both Vince (McMahon) and HHH (current WWE chief content officer and head of creative Paul Levesque) that I could be their star player.”

"It seems we have reached the point where neither saw that in me."

Cody would go on an odyssey however that would see him, to quote the man himself, go from undesirable to undeniable. He would appear on independent shows such as Ring of Honor and DEFY, appear on television with IMPACT Wrestling and tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling, becoming a member of its nefarious Bullet Club stable. 

It was through Bullet Club that Cody Rhodes and Matt and Nick Jackson (The Young Bucks) would plan to prove that there is room for an alternative to the then stale, almost hateful towards its own audience WWE product. After the success of All In, the trio along with fellow Bullet Club Elite members Kenny Omega and Adam Page, would see out their New Japan Pro Wrestling contracts and form All Elite Wrestling, with the financial backing of Fulham FC vice-chairman and director of football operations, Tony Khan. 

Through All Elite Wrestling, the WWE had its first serious competitor since WCW and the Monday Night Wars. Things started to become exciting once again for wrestling fans, as we had an alternative - a super athletic, not seen much on television in a while alternative. 

Cody Rhodes along with the other members of the Bullet Club Elite, now just known as The Elite, became EVPs for the promotion, with many arguing Rhodes' constant media appearances promoting the company making him almost the “face” of the promotion. 

But something just wasn’t fulfilling him with AEW; be it the fans starting to turn on him after realising he’s not going to turn heel (anytime soon) or that he had a story that needed to be finished, Rhodes finished up his contract with AEW and made a “shock” (ahem) return to the WWE at Wrestlemania in 2022 as Seth Rollins’ surprise opponent.

Cody the following night would explain to the world the reasons for his shock return; his father, the late Dusty Rhodes, had won many world titles throughout his life, but he never truly held the WWE’s most prestigious title. 

This is something he wanted to rectify; to ensure that throughout the lineage of the highest prize in the WWE, the name Rhodes would be there amongst the greats. 

Rhodes’ quest to finish the story saw him become injured shortly into his WWE career, yet somehow braved it out to finish his feud with a bitter Seth Rollins and rehabbed just in time to compete in the 2023 Royal Rumble. The winner of this 30-man battle royal earns the right to challenge for the title at that year’s Wrestlemania. 

Cody overcame the odds and won - and chose to challenge Roman Reigns, the holder of the title that would allow Cody to finally finish his story.

Part III: The downfall of The Bloodline and Rhodes’ redemption

Cody Rhodes would not win at Wrestlemania 2023 after Solo Sikoa, a member of The Bloodline, interfered and allowed Roman Reigns to get the victory. We were shocked - we thought that this years-long run Reigns had with two title belts would come to an end and Rhodes would naturally finish the story - and we’d get the fairytale Wrestlemania ending. 

We didn’t - and many of us thought we knew better than the creative team. But this was a new WWE; the company was purchased by Endeavour, becoming part of TKO alongside the UFC, Nick Khan was a very astute businessman, and Vince McMahon resigned amid an ongoing civil lawsuit (which would then be paused for a criminal investigation.) 

Paul “HHH” Levesque had the book - by that, it meant he had creative control of the product, and many of us would soon add the phrase “let him cook” to our vernacular. 

Much like one of Rhodes’ beloved video games, “The Legend of Zelda,” so too will he go on side quests to level up and prepare for his next battle with Roman Reigns. Reigns, on the other hand, had to contend with The Bloodline starting to fall apart; fractures occurred after Jimmy and Jey Uso lost both WWE tag team belts to the team of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.

Zayn had his redemption arc after finally standing up to Roman Reigns, having been an honorary member of The Bloodline when he realised just how evil and manipulative he is. This is the man who, after all, nearly choked one of his cousins out just so the other one would submit and lose a title match. 

Coincidentally, his act of redemption came when he was asked to smash his best friend, Kevin Owens, over the head with a chair when he was helpless and strung up against the ropes - leading to another intertwining story where Owens started to doubt if he and Zayn were friends despite everything. Guess who helped them reconnect? Cody Rhodes.

Jimmy Uso would be the next to turn his back on Roman Reigns, seeing how conflicted his brother Jey was as he was coming to terms with the realisation everything Sami Zayn had said to him was true. It was he who kicked Roman Reigns, telling Jey “he’s got this,” understanding that someone had to try and stop their cousin.

Jimmy would feel the wrath of The Bloodline, but Jey Uso would finally have the courage to stand up to his cousin - and as things were looking all but done for The Bloodline, Jimmy turned on Jey during a match again Reigns, and subsequently rejoined Roman heading into 2024’s Wrestlemania.

Cody’s sidequests saw him gain entry into the 2024 Royal Rumble match, but there was one slight problem - CM Punk made a shocking return to the WWE at Survivor Series in 2023. Not a made-up one either - his contract was terminated by AEW after an incident backstage at All In. 

Cometh the man, cometh the hour however, Cody Rhodes managed to overcome another 30 men to win the 2024 Royal Rumble and challenge Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania. Or so we thought.

Part IV: Enter The Final Boss and The Story Concludes

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would make his return to the WWE in 2024 when Cody Rhodes “humbly” stepped aside and told Roman Reigns he would challenge him and finish the story - just not at Wrestlemania.

Now, believe who you will, but the most common story regarding what happened, in a very condensed version, is that Johnson returned to the WWE after joining the TKO board and thought that after the crowd reaction when he teased a match against his cousin, Roman Reigns, that naturally, fans would love to see The Rock vs. Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania, the biggest box office possible, right?

Well no - because we had invested two years following Cody Rhodes’ rise, fall and rise again not to see some Hollywood superstar come and usurp what Rhodes had rightfully earned. We weren’t going to be happy with it not finishing at Wrestlemania, which is considered the “season end” of WWE’s television programming at times, and it makes our valiant hero Cody look like a chump.

Plans changed, to quote wrestling writers, and The Rock instead embraced the internet wrestling community’s perception of him backstage and became “The Final Boss” The Rock - perhaps some of the best work of his career.

This version of The Rock was just straight-up brutal; there were no jokes, his famous catchphrases were now uttered rather than yelled adding a more sinister tone to them and he was not above abusing his power to ensure he got what he wanted. This iteration of The Rock also acknowledged his cousin, Roman Reigns, though we sometimes saw hints of jealousy at how much attention The Rock was getting, despite headlining Wrestlemania and being the longest-reigning holder of the WWE Championship in modern history. 

Cody defiantly told The Rock and Reigns during the WWE Wrestlemania press conference in Las Vegas that it was “bulls**t” that The Rock would allow Reigns to nominate his opponent for Wrestlemania. No champion should wield that amount of power to manipulate the reign of terror further.

So alongside former nemesis Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes would challenge both The Rock and Roman Reigns to a tag team bout at Night 1 of Wrestlemania, with the stipulation that if Cody’s team won, The Bloodline would be barred from ringside in the Rhodes vs. Reigns title match on Night 2. But if The Rock’s team won, then it would be anything goes in the main event.

The Rock and Reigns won. But wrestling in the WWE being booked on the principle of the obvious conclusion isn’t always the most boring one, Rhodes overcame every odd thrown at him to win the coveted title he spent two years chasing and finishing his story. 

Cody Rhodes is at the top of the WWE, while Roman Reigns has not been seen on WWE television since his loss at Wrestlemania. A near four-year story, with spinoffs and long-term stories that are still being continued to this day (Roman’s gone, The Bloodline have not.)

WWE Clash at the Castle: Scotland takes place at the OVO Hydro, Glasgow on June 15 2024. For any last-minute tickets, visit Ticketmaster UK. The event can also be viewed through TNT Sports Box Office or by subscribers of the WWE Network from 7pm this evening.