WWE Smackdown: Cody Rhodes Advances & John Cena vs. R-Truth 2 Coming Soon

The logic isn’t sound, but Cena admitted that he played everyone by involving The Rock to give Cody Rhodes someone else to focus on—thus giving Cena the edge at WrestleMania. Then, knowing he would be able to insert himself into the Elimination Chamber based solely on seniority, he tied in the Royal Rumble loss into a plan of variables and calculations.

Like the calculation, he made that the audience would root for Truth even though he has not been a main event title challenger for years, so the title was not on the line in the same way that Cena finessed being able to main event MITB in a tag match with Logan as his teammate. Yes, Cena had an answer for everything, including involving Orton at an idyllic time for Cena and his relationship with Truth—he blew it up exactly when he needed to.

The Many Faces Of Cena

Cody Rhodes came out to confront, but mostly agree with, Cena before reminding him that he was pinned “back on the mat, eyes on the lights” on Saturday by “The American Nightmare.” After Cody, Randy Orton came out to make it clear that his anger for Cena and desire for a 15^th world title had intensified to the point that he felt it necessary to warn Cody that he would go through his longtime friend just to get to Cena.

LA Knight was the final face to make his way out, and he did a great job competing for the loudest pops. He admitted that he was the one ‘out of place’ before referring to the icons in the ring as “the establishment” (OMG, Rollins faction needs a name—Anti-Establishment Workhorses… as in A.E.W. haha).

In the end, Cena helped to usher in the men’s King of the Ring 4-way qualification involving all two of the three faces—Cody as the odd man in a separate 4-way qualifier. However, before Cena could make it through the curtain, and with his back turned to the faces he left in the ring, Ron “The Truth” Killings came out to attack Cena from behind, laying down lefts and rights until officials made their way out to pull off Truth.

Cena played double-duty tonight (a nice change of pace from how he has mostly been booked on WWE TV) and was seen later in the back yelling at GM Nic Aldis. But the most interesting backstage clash was between Cena and Jimmy Uso.

Cena asked Jimmy if he’d seen “R-Truth,” and when he was told ‘no’ he switched it up and asked if he’d seen “Ron Killings.” Jimmy, again, responded that he hadn’t seen ‘either one of them.’ Cena told Jimmy that he was going to the ring and asked him to find R-Truth to meet him there.

Promo Deux

“There is a level of disrespect that I can tolerate,” Cena began. “R-Truth, you just crossed the line.” Cena did not waste any time setting up his second promo before he grabbed the mic and demanded R-Truth come out for a fight as the crowd chanted, “We want Truth,” a layered mantra that speaks to the desire from a large fandom that wants to know whether this was all work or all shoot.

In what felt like the perfect moment for ‘Truth’s’ music to hit and bust open the roof, CM Punk’s theme erupted the crowd, knowing the significance of this showdown ahead of their world title tilt at Night of Champions.

Cena did not miss a beat. He called out the fans for idiots wearing his shirt while singing along with CM Punk’s music.

Punk claimed it was about to get real, and a pipe bomb felt oncoming, but the crowd again chanted for ‘Truth.’ Punk ignored the chants before claiming that Cena can’t beat him during his prime, and he can’t beat him now. Punk took a beat, and it was a subtle search for words that helped to authenticate his promo.

“You know who I sound like, PG John Cena,” Punk said before acknowledging that Cena’s ‘quest to ruin wrestling’ and taking the belt home made him sound like Punk. It is an interesting parallel, but it was also the one we got for Cena-Orton.

Punk paid homage to a Mount Rushmore of wrestlers he felt more deserving than Cena before claiming he has ‘always been able to see through you,’ a play on Cena’s famous ‘you can’t see me’ tagline.

After the mic drop and ring exit from Punk, Truth came out to throw Cean another beatdown with his back turned. Punk grabbed the mic and said, “The truth hurts,” leading us to believe he was aware of Truth’s intentions, ignoring the chants to get Cena’s attention on him and off the man he called out to the ring.

John Cena vs. R- Truth (Ron Killings) II

It was later announced that we would get the SNME rematch between Cena and Truth next Friday. The build-up was swift, but it is better than not getting it at all. Still, you have to wonder if this ‘new version’ of Truth stands a much better chance in a second non-title affair.

Men’s King of the Ring Qualifiers

Randy Orton vs. LA Knight vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Aleister Black

The match was fought at a slow pace and then picked up in the back half of the bout when Hayes and Black were allowed to show out. Still, Knight’s reactions and psychology make him a standout in matches like these—he’ll never moonsault from the top rope to the outside onto three other superstars, but he is often the piece that connects the varying styles in matches like these.

It felt like LA Knight had a real shot, so of course, Bron Breakker had to come out to stop any momentum out of Knight. Breakker did not act without reason. After all, it was Knight who interfered in Breakker’s qualifier this past Monday on RAW (also opener). The match further solidified the feud between Knight and Breakker while Randy Orton took advantage of the chaos.

Orton picked up the victory and will now face Sami Zayn in the next round of the KOTR tournament and further bid for that SummerSlam main event title shot.

Cody Rhodes vs. Andrade vs. Damian Priest vs. Nakamura

Cody Rhodes had a brief encounter with Punk on the way to Gorilla for his 4-way main event qualifier. He told Punk they could not avoid each other forever before Punk responded by saying he would see who was chasing who after Night of Champions.

The ‘chance meeting’ could have been enough to throw Cody off heading into a match with dangerous opposition like Andrade, who excels in multi-man matches, or Andrade, who has upward momentum stemming from his feud with McIntyre.

However, Rhodes was able to pick up the pinfall victory over Nakamura after hitting him with the ‘Cross Rhodes.’ Cody will now face the winner of RAW’s 4-way involving Sheamus, Rusev, Bronson Reed, and the newly announced Jey Uso (following his title loss to Gunther on Monday).

Women’s Queen of the Ring Qualifiers

Jade Cargill vs. Piper Niven vs. Nia Jax vs. Michin

This match was all about Jade, well, at least 3/4s of the match. It took Nia enlisting the aid of Niven to take down Jade—Nia eliminated Jade last year in their QOTR tournament match by DQ. Michin certainly stood out in the match, but Jade was the clear favorite heading into the match.

Jade ended up getting the pinfall victory over Niven despite being thrown into commentary (the unbreakable table gets the ‘W’ tonight) and advances to face off with Roxxanne Perez in a semi-final match taking place next week on SmackDown.

Charlotte Flair vs. Alba Fyre (Replaced Chelsea Green) vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Candice LeRae

This four-way helped to continue whatever program is brewing between Flair and Bliss, and the match’s finale solidified that more than anything. In the final sequence, Flair was able to slap the ‘figure-8’ on Alba while LeRae found herself on the bad end of a ‘Sister Abigail.’

Bliss secured the pinfall victory, and the ref counted the 1-2-3 just as Alba was tapping from Flair’s finisher. The two vets exchanged looks, and Flair was understandably upset. This marks the third time Bliss has qualified for a match that leads to a potential title shot after qualifying for both Elimination Chamber and MITB. In fact, Bliss made her return from a two-year hiatus at this year’s Royal Rumble—the most infamous title-guarantee match in wrestling history.

Bliss will now go on to face the winner of RAW’s 4-way qualifier between Stephanie Vaquer, Asuka, Raquel Rodriguez, and Ivy Nile.

Jacob Fatu Is Finally Free To Be(at) Solo…Back-Up On The Way

Jacob Fatu came out to hype the crowd in his first promo as a face freshly fractured from his family faction. It was a terrific showcase of his ability to get the crowd over, but the substance was saved for Solo’s on-screen rebuttal. Solo knew better than to just confront Fatu in the ring, so he hid behind a camera placed in front of him. Instead of going ‘scorched earth’ on Fatu, he left a window for Fatu to return and pay for his mistakes.

Solo will have a plan, and that plan will involve JC Mateo facing off with Fatu, but could Solo be planning to dig into that bottomless well of ferocious family members within wrestling? It would fit Solo’s pattern of going ‘Gang, Gang’ once he feels his grasp slipping in a specific situation. And he would not have to go outside the company, either.

Naomi Gets Her Chance To Shine…With Caution

The 2025 women’s MITB winner, Naomi, received her winner segment promo with the briefcase in hand. Her delivery was strong, but there was little direction in her promo until she mentioned Tiffany Stratton and the blame she placed on her for not beating Nia Jax last year. Stratton used the MITB briefcase as a weapon on Naomi, and Naomi definitely appreciates the irony of her current position.

Tiff tried to goad Naomi into a direct cash-in, something that we have seen done before by faces, but Naomi was not falling for it. The attitude and aggressiveness from Naomi was great, and she even yelled out, “B***h, you heard me” to a group of fans chanting “WHAT!” in the crowd. It was perfectly timed as she screamed at the champ for assuming Naomi is “stupid or something” because she knows that the power in the briefcase is not the title shot itself but rather the power in the challenger’s hands to dictate the time and place terms—a rare consideration given to a challenger and an advantage stripped from a champion constantly on edge.

It is a solid story, for now, but the problem with MITB briefcase runs is that they almost always run their course before inevitably growing stale.

Other Tidbits/In-Ring Action

Wyatt Sicks vs. Motor City Machineguns

It was an interesting booking, but probably not the fantasy booking anyone fawned over, as the red-hot SD tag division has hit a cold run over the past few weeks. The excellent tag teamwork done week-to-week made SD the premier tag division post-Mania (the booking began well before Mania). So, creative decided to add the gimmick faction into the mix in a bid to match the storyline intensity with that of the in-ring action. Uncle Howdy’s promo demanded that Lumis and Gacy make a statement, and they did that by picking up the victory.