Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: aew, Cody Rhodes, Reggie, Triple H, Wrestlemania, wrestling, wwe

Fantasy Booking a Cody Rhodes WrestleMania Championship Return

Published Tue, 15 Feb 2022 11:39:12 -0600

This morning, the news shocked the world: Cody Rhodes has left AEW and is considering a return to WWE. And The Chadster has just one thing to say about it: it's about time! Yes, it's true that Cody Rhodes has been very disrespectful to WWE since his departure. First, he had the nerve to become a bigger star outside the company than he was inside. Then, he co-founded AEW, daring to compete with WWE and even to drive The Chadster's beloved WWE NXT off of Wednesday nights. And all along the way, Cody continued to take shots at WWE, doing things like breaking Triple H's chair or teasing the pedigree. Auughh man! So unfair!

But that's all water under the bridge now that Cody Rhodes has realized that WWE was right all along and Tony Khan doesn't understand anything about the wrestling business. And while The Chadster is sure that Vince McMahon has no need to give Cody Rhodes a second chance, once Mr. McMahon saw Cody getting booed as a babyface over the last few months on AEW television, he must have known that Cody is exactly the kind of star WWE is looking for.

The only question is, with a roster so stacked WWE has to trim the fat several times a year, is there any room on Raw or Smackdown for Cody Rhodes? And the answer, at least in The Chadster's opinion, is: yes! In fact, The Chadster believes that Cody Rhodes, despite his disloyalty, should skyrocket straight to a title chase. And the title in question: the prestigious WWE 24/7 Championship.

Yes, it's true that Cody Rhodes will have a lot to prove if he hopes to take the title off of a Superstar of Reggie's caliber, assuming Reggie is able to hold onto the belt that long, but The Chadster has faith that Cody can pull it off. But to give him that extra bit of "star" power, The Chadster knows exactly how Cody should re-debut in WWE.

Picture this: it's the Monday Night Raw after Elimination Chamber. Everyone is wondering who Reggie will face during the WrestleMania pre-show in April. Throughout the night, Reggie is chased by the usual members of the 24/7 Championship division, at least, the ones that haven't been fired yet. But throughout the night, the number of chasers gets smaller and smaller. Is it another round of WWE releases? Or is somebody picking them off?

Finally, Reggie runs out to the ring, and there is no one left to chase him. He stops for a breather in the ring, causing the 45-minute six-man tag main event to grind to a halt. Then the music hits. It's Stardust! He's back, and he's after the one title that always eluded him: the 24/7 Championship!

Of course, you can't just have Stardust pin Reggie on his first night back, so Reggie will naturally have to escape. Then, over the next several weeks, Stardust gets closer and closer to catching Reggie, but the acrobatic Superstar continues to elude him. Finally, two weeks before WrestleMania, Stardust corners Reggie. And he has a microphone.

"Reggie, after departing WWE back in 2016, Stardust has been on a journey throughout the wrestling galaxy, but when I saw you carrying around that WWE 24/7 Championship on Monday Night Raw, I knew that I needed to leave the galaxy and return to The Universe. At WrestleMania, Stardust will walk into the grandest stage of them all a man, but I will leave as your new WWE 24/7 Champion."

Stardust leaves Reggie to ponder this plan, but Adam Pearce is in the ring, and he has an announcement. Stardust may have been some kind of big shot down in the minor leagues, but around here, it's Pearce who makes the booking decisions. Pearce says that the fans will get their Stardust vs. Reggie dream match… as long as Stardust can defeat Reggie in a non-title championship opportunity match next week on Raw.

After a week of extremely high anticipation, Stardust meets Reggie in the ring sometime during the second hour of Monday Night Raw. It's a hard-fought match that lasts through at least two commercial breaks, but Stardust pulls off the shocking upset victory, pinning Reggie with a roll-up. The match is on for the WrestleMania Night 1 Kickoff Show.

WrestleMania rolls around and the WWE Universe is enraptured in the most important two nights of the year. After a half hour or so of Booker T, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Opie and Anthony's former intern analyzing the upcoming bouts, Stardust makes his way to the ring for the first match of the pre-show. Reggie comes out and they compete in the most epic 7-minute match in the history of WrestleMania pre-shows.

But just as Stardust seems like he is about to pull off the victory, the lights go out. "It's time to play the gaaaaaame!" Triple H walks slowly to the ring, wheeling a heartrate monitor and IV with him. He takes a sip from the IV bag and gently spits the fluid into the air. "Stardust-ah! As I've spent-ah the last six months-ah in the hospital-ah, I've had one thing on my mind-ah: revenge against the person-ah who put me in this position: you!"

The crowd gasps as Triple H has made a somewhat vague reference to AEW. "Triple H has just kicked open the forbidden door!" shouts Jimmy Smith. And as Stardust stares up the ramp at Triple H, Reggie comes up from behind and rolls him up to get the win. "Stardust just learned what it's like to play with the big boys here on the A-show," says Corey Graves. Dejected, Stardust leaves the ring as the crowd mocks and laughs at him, chanting "WWE! WWE! WWE!"

At least, that's how The Chadster would book it. It finally gives Cody Rhodes that big WrestleMania moment he wanted throughout his first run, but it protects Reggie while still making Cody look good just by hanging in the ring with him. Plus, it gets Triple H his win back for losing the Wednesday Night Wars, which is something the WWE Universe is dying to see. And from there, Stardust can work his way back up the roster and maybe one day challenge for the United States Championship. Wouldn't that be nice?

Let The Chadster know what you think of his fantasy booking in the comments below, and if you are someone from WWE reading this, please, please, please consider giving The Chadster a job. The Chadster will do anything. Look at how The Chadster has always defended you, and the other writers here are so mean to The Chadster because of it! Please!

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