WWE Rumors on Cody Rhodes, WrestleMania, Trick Williams and SmackDown Commentary Team

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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Reported Reason for Rhodes Holding Off on WrestleMania Announcement

Cody Rhodes refrained from making his official opponent choice for WrestleMania 40 during Monday night’s episode of Raw, and it is reportedly for good reason.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), holding off on his announcement was likely meant to build anticipation and potentially score a strong television rating when he ultimately does make his choice.

Rhodes won his second consecutive men’s Royal Rumble match on Saturday, becoming only the fourth Superstar in WWE history to pull off the feat.

After he won, The American Nightmare got on the ropes and pointed in the direction of undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns, who was looking on from box seats.

That seemed to indicate Rhodes is locked in to face The Tribal Chief in the main event of WrestleMania 40 after falling just short in his bid to beat him in the main event last year.

On Monday’s Raw, though, world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins interrupted Rhodes while he was cutting a promo.

He implored the men’s Rumble winner to challenge him at WrestleMania instead, insisting that the World Heavyweight Championship is the workhorse, blue-collar title and the top prize in WWE.

Rather than shooting Rollins down, The American Nightmare said he would think about the proposal, and he is now scheduled to appear on Friday’s SmackDown.

While Rollins has a history with Rhodes and made some compelling points, it seems a near-certainty that he will go after Reigns in an effort to “finish the story.”

Trick Williams Reportedly Viewed as Future WrestleMania Main Eventer

NXT star Trick Williams reportedly opened some eyes in WWE with his appearance last week on SmackDown.

The 29-year-old showed up to help his longtime friend and tag team partner, Carmelo Hayes, who was getting attacked by Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. He received a significant pop from the crowd and chanted his “Whoop That Trick” catchphrase.

According to Haus of Wrestling’s Nick Hausman, the SmackDown creative team was “blown away” by the crowd’s reaction to Williams, and some within the company now believe he has “future WrestleMania main eventer potential.”

Williams made his television debut on an episode of NXT in 2021 as Hayes’ sidekick, but over the course of time, he became hugely popular in his own right.

At the Vengeance Day premium live event on Sunday, he is set to pull double duty, as he will first team with Hayes in the final of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic against Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin and then challenge Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship in the main event.

NXT booker Shawn Michaels has been building tension between Williams and Hayes for months, so it seems likely that Hayes will either cost Williams the title or potentially attack him after he wins in order to set up a match at Stand & Deliver on April 6.

Regardless of what happens Sunday, Williams clearly has massive potential and is hugely over with the crowd, meaning he has a chance to be a top star once he makes his way to the main roster.

Graves, Barrett to Reportedly Form SmackDown Commentary Team

Following the departure of Kevin Patrick, Corey Graves and Wade Barrett are reportedly in line to serve as the announce team for SmackDown moving forward.

According to PWInsider.com (h/t WrestlingInc’s Danny Wolstanholme), Graves is set to serve as the play-by-play announcer for the blue brand, while Barrett will remain a color commentator.

The previous commentary teams were Michael Cole with Barrett on Raw and Graves with Patrick on SmackDown, but a shake-up occurred when Patrick was released from the company last week, per PWInsider.com’s Mike Johnson.

Pat McAfee, who was a surprise guest announcer alongside Cole and Graves at the Royal Rumble over the weekend, was on the call with Cole during Monday night’s episode of Raw.

Cole and McAfee were once the announce team for SmackDown before the latter left to focus on ESPN College GameDay and his podcast, but it was announced that the pair will be the full-time Raw announce team moving forward.

That left fans to wonder what would become of Graves and Barrett, and the decision was reportedly made to see what they can do together.

Both are traditionally color commentators and usually portray themselves as heels, so it was unclear if WWE would be willing to see what they could do as a team.

Graves is talented enough that he should be able to make the transition, and both he and Barrett likely have enough wit to play off each other, so there is likely a good chance that they succeed on the blue brand.

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