WWE makes official Cody Rhodes confirmation before the Draft on SmackDown

WWE has officially made a confirmation ahead of SmackDown's Draft regarding Cody Rhodes.

Before things got started, the company was talking about the protected picks for the Draft and reiterated that champions on both brands were going to be protected and would not be eligible for the Draft.

With that being the case, after Cody Rhodes mentioned it during last week's episode of RAW, it was officially confirmed in the graphic that Rhodes was part of the SmackDown roster now. He was officially part of RAW, but winning the Undisputed WWE Title appears to have placed him on the SmackDown brand.

As a result, he won't be part of the Draft and despite not having been officially chosen for SmackDown in the previous draft, he's part of the brand already. It appears to be a permanent pick, as in he will remain on the brand even if he loses the title.

This has not been confirmed yet, but it's to be assumed as the Draft rules also say that the rosters will be locked following before the RAW after WWE Backlash.

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Cody Rhodes already has his first WWE Title challenger after defeating Roman Reigns to finish his story at WrestleMania

As the champion on SmackDown, Rhodes has a target on his back. Already, he has his first No. 1 Contender ready to challenge him at Backlash.

He will be facing AJ Styles in a match that everyone has been waiting for. The two signed the contract for the title match to kick off this week's episode of SmackDown.

But as champion, Rhodes will have to ensure that he's ready for challenges at any time, and that's what happened on this week's show. Moments after being picked for SmackDown, Carmelo Hayes decided to challenge him to a match the same night.

After Cody Rhodes appeared to hesitate, he confirmed the same, and the two have a match set for later in the night.