Cody Rhodes Is Proving He Is The Man To Main Event WWE WrestleMania 39

Even before Cody Rhodes returned to win the Royal Rumble last month, the seas were parting for WWE's "prodigal son" to come home. But the vignettes amping up Rhodes' return were only the beginning: A recent slew of emotional promos has Rhodes explaining exactly why his long and winding journey to the top is the best story to be told through the main event of WrestleMania 39 — even if another compelling narrative is looming over his head.

WWE is setting the stage for Rhodes and Roman Reigns to face off at WrestleMania for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. "The American Nightmare" has called out the champion on back-to-back episodes of "WWE Raw" and declared his intent to take the titles under the shadow of the WrestleMania sign. But in recent months, fans have been tuning into WWE programming primarily to see what happens next in the slowly-burning feud between Reigns and 2022's unexpected breakout star, Sami Zayn. After splitting dramatically from Reigns' Bloodline at Royal Rumble, Zayn has made it clear that he, too, is coming for Reigns' championship, although WWE has elected for that match to take place at Elimination Chamber in Zayn's hometown of Montreal.

Many WWE fans are incensed at the apparent decision to blow off the year-long Zayn/Bloodline story a month before WrestleMania, and that it could be Rhodes, not Zayn, who ends Reigns' dominant title reign. But after Rhodes' scintillating promo segment with Paul Heyman on Monday's "WWE Raw," the logic behind WWE's choice is becoming more clear.

The choice between Rhodes and Zayn may be unacknowledged on WWE television — though Rhodes was forced to acknowledge the "Sami" chants on "Raw" — but it's been a near-constant topic among fans since the promotion's busiest season kicked off last month. Rhodes has had a hefty head start with his storyline, however; his "destiny" has been seemingly written since before the second-generation superstar was even born. 

Rhodes laid out the skeleton when he returned to WWE last year after a six-year journey across the independent scene that led, in part, to All Elite Wrestling. Speaking underneath the image of his father, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, with the WWWF Heavyweight Championship, Rhodes declared he had returned to win the world championship "The Dream" was never able to capture. "I stand before you, finally ready," he declared.

A gruesome pectoral injury one month later derailed Rhodes' year-long story, but fighting through the pain at Hell in a Cell also helped bolster his legitimacy and earned a new wave of respect from fans and wrestlers alike. WWE's stalled storyline gave space for Zayn to win over the crowd through an undeniably electric rapport with The Bloodline, but it also may have preserved Rhodes from growing stale over a 12-month buildup to WrestleMania 39. And despite Zayn's unforeseen rise to stardom, Rhodes remains the bigger name, the first AEW rebel to return to the fold, and assuming the mantle of WWE's chosen one still appears to be his destiny.

A WrestleMania main event is far larger than a high-profile professional wrestling match, and there's perhaps no wrestler better suited to draw on fans' emotions right now than Rhodes — no longer, more compelling story than WWE's top prize eluding the Rhodes family. Rhodes has choked back tears while drawing out the very best of some of pro wrestling's greatest performers as he's harkened back to his beloved father's career, and how his own journey to the top prize in WWE is all for him. Rhodes' performance as the regretful son looking to make right what WWE got wrong isn't just a top-tier tale teed up perfectly for WrestleMania season — it's perhaps the epitome of WWE's modern-day mantra: "Then. Now. Forever." 

A competition-based soap opera dating back decades, WWE is built around long-term storytelling and relies heavily on its own history. Yes, in the past, WWE's creative team has caved to the crowd's will and scrapped long-secured plans for WrestleMania main events, but most often, the promotion sticks to its script. There may still be time for Zayn to squeeze his way into WrestleMania's main event, and he would deserve it. But in WWE's eyes, no one not named Rhodes could deserve the title more. Cody Rhodes didn't return for anything less than winning the WWE Championship, and nothing — not even the hottest storyline since Daniel Bryan's — Yes! Movement — appears big enough to stop his final chapter from being written.