Cody Rhodes and WWE Champion John Cena were under one roof on tonight’s (July 18) episode of SmackDown for a contract signing to make their SummerSlam title match official.
Cody had the ring to himself first and reiterated that he learned from his dumbass mistake at WrestleMania 41 when he hesitated and lost the title to Cena. There will be no hesitation this time when they square off at SummerSlam.
It was then Cena’s turn to come out and sign the contract, but he caught everyone off guard with an immediate swerve. You see, Cena’s busy Hollywood schedule made him too physically and emotionally exhausted to be able to wrestle at SummerSlam. That sounds an awful lot like why Pat McAfee is gone from WWE right now. I’m just saying.
Cena offered to fight Cody at a future event like Clash in Paris, but it’s just best for business right now for John to skip out on SummerSlam. The champ thanked Cody for understanding and took his leave from the ring.
Rhodes didn’t fall for Cena’s cowardice. He ran up the aisle to punch John in the face and incite a melee. Cena tried to take Cody out with the WWE championship, but the move backfired. Cody soon had the belt in his hands, and he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger and knock Cena out with it.
It was pretty hilarious as the suit-wearing Rhodes then climbed up to the top rope with the contract in hand and splashed Cena through a table.
The champ was done for at that point, so Cody took his limp hand and forced him to sign the contract. Just for good measure, Rhodes told John to read the fine print that they will actually be having a street fight at SummerSlam. I guess Cody added that fine print in there earlier in the night when he asked GM Adam Pearce to let him review the contract.
Here’s the updated SummerSlam card:
- WWE Championship Street Fight: John Cena (c) vs. Cody Rhodes
- World Heavyweight Championship: GUNTHER (c) vs. CM Punk
- Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill
- Women’s World Championship: Naomi (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Iyo Sky
- United States Championship Steel Cage match: Solo Sikoa (c) vs. Jacob Fatu
- Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria
- Women’s Tag Team Championship: Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair
- Jelly Roll & Randy Orton vs. Logan Paul & Drew McIntyre
Catch up on all the results from SmackDown in our live blog right here.