Following WrestleMania XL and ahead of the WWE Draft, the company recently shifted one of its top stars to another brand.
The WWE Draft will return later this month as a two-night event on RAW and SmackDown, April 26 and 29, respectively. The draft will include both main roster and NXT stars. This will be the first WWE Draft without any involvement from Vince McMahon.
Cody Rhodes was able to finish his story at WrestleMania XL, despite facing some adversity. The WWE WrestleMania 40 headliner of night one was Rock & Roman Reigns vs. Rhodes & Seth Rollins, with the heels winning only for Rhodes to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Title from Reigns the following night.
The following night on RAW, WWE hinted at a future match between Rock and Rhodes, most likely at WrestleMania 41 next year. Following his title win, Rhodes stated that he would work both shows. However, this does not appear to be the case for very long.
WWE has already moved forward with Damian Priest, who will defend his World Heavyweight Title against Jey Uso at Backlash France next month. Rhodes appeared on SmackDown last week and had an in-ring segment with Jey Uso on Monday Night RAW this week.
As shown below, Rhodes is now officially listed as a SmackDown star. As of April 12th, he remained listed on RAW. It’s unclear whether that will remain permanent or change after the Draft. It should be noted that, given the lack of a reported internal listing at this time, WWE may have moved Rhodes to the SmackDown roster on its website while also internally planning to use him on RAW until the Draft, which is quickly approaching.
