WrestleMania 34 or 39?

I’m sitting here watching Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania 39, and there is one question that needs to be answered. Ever since ’The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes made his triumphant return to WWE all he’s talked about is finishing the story and becoming WWE champion. He won the men’s Royal Rumble match to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, but it wasn’t in the cards in Hollywood.

The crowd was left shocked and speechless after Roman Reigns continued his historic championship reign, and it made me think about the last time this happened. At WrestleMania 34, the WWE Universe was left with the same reaction and the same feelings. Ironically, Reigns was also in the main event at that Mania too, when Brock Lesnar was reigning and defending Universal Champion. This time around though in New Orleans, ‘The Big Dog’ was seeking to finally dethrone his rival and win his first-ever Universal Championship.

Back then Lesnar held a massive stranglehold over the Universal title for well over a year. He demolished anyone who came into his path including Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, and you guessed it Roman Reigns. At the 2018 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, The Big Dog won the men’s elimination chamber match to punch his ticket to Mania 34. Throughout the whole year, rumors were stating that Lesnar was being built up to lose his championship to Reigns.

Instead of finishing the story on the Grandest Stage of Them All, for whatever reason Vince decided to keep the title on Lesnar and the crowd was not happy at all. The WWE Universe booed both superstars out of the building. If you go back and watch the WWE 24 documentary you can visibly see Lesnar toss the Universal title to Vince seated at gorilla position. One has to wonder if Lesnar was legit upset about not finishing the story that night in New Orleans.

We had to wait until the 2018 SummerSlam pay-per-view to see Reigns finally win the title and finish his story. Doesn’t that sound familiar to this year’s Mania where Rhodes was being built up to win the titles only to fall short? Leading up to Mania, Rhodes was rumored to finish the story and win the prestigious championship. Everyone including myself was left speechless after Reigns speared The American Nightmare. The emotions were overwhelming and a wave of disappointment came over the WWE Universe.

After this week’s edition of Raw, you can tell that Rhodes is not done with his pursuit of the championship but he will now have his hands full with Lesnar. Lesnar shockingly decided to be his tag team partner in the main event, only to shock the WWE Universe again.

It certainly feels like they will put The American Nightmare into a John Cena-esque position where he had to overcome all the obstacles to get his rematch against The Rock at WrestleMania 29. Cena hit rock bottom after he lost their “Once in a Lifetime” marquee match. Lesnar would make his shocking return after nine years to brutally attack Cena on the Raw-after-Mania. After ‘Mr. Never Give Up’ defeated Lesnar then he got destroyed in his feud with Big Show and then-Raw general manager John Laurinaitis for months.

Cena would make a huge comeback and win the 2013 Royal Rumble and punch his ticket to Mania 29. Cena would finally get his comeuppance against The Rock and win the WWE Championship inside MetLife Stadium. Could this be where the Cody Rhodes story is heading in the same direction as all the superstars that preceded him?