On the first episode of SmackDown after WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes, the newly crowned Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, made a sparkling entrance at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. But, just seconds after the American Nightmare performed his trademark ‘Woah Oh!,” standing on the second rope, the pyro wasn’t quite in sync, and when it went off, he got spooked in front of the live audience.
After getting done with the entrance, Cody Rhodes took the mic and asked the rowdy crowd in Detroit what they wanted to talk about. The champion proceeded to narrate his confrontation with The Rock from this past Monday on WWE Raw, which ended with him receiving an item in hand from his arch-nemesis, and he immediately knew what it was.
Cody Rhodes went on to state that whenever The Rock decides to return to the WWE, he will be waiting for him in the front of the line. But for now, his focus is firmly on traveling to France to defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Backlash next month.
In one of the two main event matches on WWE SmackDown, LA Knight pinned Santos Escobar with a BFT in a triple threat match involving Bobby Lashley, to advance to the final round. Meanwhile, in the other triple threat match, AJ Styles scored a pinfall on Kevin Owens with an avalanche Styles Clash, which also had Rey Mysterio.
Next week on WWE SmackDown, AJ Styles will be facing his WrestleMania 40 opponent, LA Knight, to determine the new number one contender for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Cody Rhodes will be defending his title at the WWE Backlash PPV, which will be going down on May 4 at the LDLC Arena in Lyon, France.
Watch the clip of Cody Rhodes getting spooked by the Pyro on WWE SmackDown here: