Cody Rhodes Drops Cena With Crossroads After Brutal SmackDown Altercation

WWE brought the go-home episode of SmackDown on April 18 to the T-Mobile Arena. This was a massive show, and it all concluded with building toward the biggest match at WrestleMania 41.

John Cena and Cody Rhodes are set to do battle at WrestleMania 41 during the event’s second night on Sunday. The two had one final opportunity to lay everything on the line in Las Vegas before they battled on the grandest stage of them all.

Cody Rhodes came out first, and he had the fans going in a big way. He did not have a chance to ask fans what they wanted to talk about, because John Cena’s music hit before he could say a word. When Cena got to the ring, he was greeted by a slew of chants, both for and against him.

John Cena immediately told Cody Rhodes to “shut your mouth, kid.” Cena went on about his retirement from pro wrestling, and then he said that every other wrestler is a “scared, insecure loser,” and that’s why they keep having “one more match.” He said that Superstars keep crawling back as a shell of themselves, but Cena doesn’t need “a single damn one of you” fans. He said that the only reason he was there was to take the WWE Title away from Cody and the fans forever.

John Cena brought up how Cody Rhodes finished his story at WrestleMania 40, and how afterward he told him that “everyday you hold that it gets heavier.” Cena said that Cody will lose at WrestleMania, because he cares about the fans. Then Cena shared one more thing with Rhodes, and it was about The Rock. Cena said that Cody Rhodes changed everything when he rejected The Rock’s offer. That is when Cena realized that Rhodes doesn’t stand a chance at WrestleMania 41. Cena then proclaimed that he will prove that fans don’t matter at WrestleMania when he beats Rhodes for the title.

Then, Cena said that Cody will realize that he’s not the captain or the quarterback. He’s just a kid in a man’s word “who doesn’t have the balls of the last real champion.”

Cody Rhodes had a chance to speak, and he mentioned how fans feel about him. Fans started to boo, and then the American Nightmare asked John Cena if he knows the names of anyone backstage in WWE anymore. Cody said that Cena is overrated and fans started to get behind him again. Rhodes said that Cena’s “face is melting wax, your neck is a stack of dimes, and you have spindly legs, you’re paler than Sting at Scarrcade ’97!”

Then Cody Rhodes brought up how John Cena did that nude Oscars stunt, and how it was for the people he does errands for now. He also said it’s 2025, and he still can’t wrestle. Fans blew up at that, and they started to chant Cody Rhodes’ name in sing-song fashion.

John Cena fired back to say that he doesn’t have to wrestle at WrestleMania to beat Cody Rhodes. Then John tried to hit an Attitude Adjustment, but Cody reversed it into a Crossroads to close out the night posing with the Undisputed WWE Championship.