Cody Rhodes made his big return to the ring at the Royal Rumble premium live event back in January, and he punched his ticket to WrestleMania when he won the 30 man Royal Rumble match. For weeks now Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes have been hyping up their WrestleMania match, and they finally clashed in the main event of night 2 on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium.
The American Nightmare entered first to a big pop from the Los Angeles crowd and he greeted his wife and child who were sitting at ringside behind the announce table. Cody then gave his weight belt to a kid sitting at ringside and Michael Cole pointed out that it was Brodie Lee Jr.
Before Roman’s music hit six piano players performed a rendition of it at the top of the stage, then the regular version kicked in as The Tribal Chief made his entrance with Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa by his side. After the introductions were made Roman Reigns got on the mic and told WrestleMania to acknowledge him, then the bell rang to kick things off.
At one point during the match Cody was on the apron and Solo Sikoa hit Cody in the ribs with a steel chair while the referee wasn’t looking. Solo interfered again when he grabbed Cody’s leg as Cody ran the ropes. Roman Reigns then cleared the announce tables and set Cody up on one of them. He stood on the table and tried to powerbomb Cody through the other table, but Cody stood up and reversed it to send Roman through the table.
Cody made a comeback and hit the Cody Cutter, but Roman kicked out. Solo hit Cody with a weight belt and the referee finally banned him from ringside. Roman grabbed the weight belt and the referee tried to take it from him. Cody hit a superkick on Roman then followed up with Cross Rhodes, but Roman kicked out.
Later in the match Roman Reigns went for the Superman Punch, but Cody reversed it into the Pedigree. Roman Reigns kicked out and Cody picked him up. Cody went for the Disaster Kick, but Roman countered with the Superman Punch and Cody kicked out at two. Roman Reigns looked on in disbelief as the crowd chanted “this is awesome.”
Roman hit Cody with a spear, but Cody kicked out and Roman looked shocked. Roman Reigns locked in the guillotine on Cody and The American Nightmare started to fade, but he broke out then started beating Roman down. Cody went to kick Roman and hit the referee by accident. Roman and Cody then took each other down with a double clothesline.
Cody went for Cross Rhodes, but The Usos showed up and superkicked him then followed up with the 1-D. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens came out to fight The Usos off. KO hit Roman with the Stunner and Sami hit him with the Helluva Kick. The Usos then brawled through the crowd with Owens & Zayn. Cody pinned Reigns as the ref got back in the ring and Reigns kicked out.
Roman went for the Superman Punch, but Cody fought back and hit a Bionic Elbow, then hit Cross Rhodes twice. He went for Cross Rhodes a third time and Paul Heyman distracted the ref as Solo returned and hit Cody with the Samoan Spike. Roman Reigns then hit Cody with a spear to win the match.
