3 Reasons why Cody Rhodes attacked John Cena upon his WWE return

John Cena continued asserting his dominance in WWE as he is now riding a three-match win streak, adding R-Truth to his victim list. The Last Real Champion closed their non-title bout pretty soon, beating former 24/7 Champion clean.

After winning the match, John Cena confronted Jey Uso, laying the foundation for potential interference in his championship. To nobody’s shock, the Last Real Champion jumped the bandwagon in the main event and started to throw punches at the Yeet Master. However, Cody Rhodes rushed in and attacked Cena, helping Uso win the match.

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In this listicle, we look at three reasons why Cody Rhodes returned at Saturday Night’s Main Event 2025:

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#1. Cody Rhodes wants to end Cena’s WWE farewell stint

Since John Cena chose the path of darkness and turned heel, he is on a mission to ruin wrestling before he leaves the Stamford-based promotion. Randy Orton and R-Truth fell short in stopping the 17-time WWE Champion.

This eventually forced the American Nightmare to return and attack him, as he knows that underestimating this new version of Cena would cause more chaos. He has vowed to end John Cena’s farewell run early on.

#2. To build the 2025 Money in the Bank tag match

Following SNME, Money in the Bank 2025 is the next premium live event. With MITB only two weeks away, Triple H and WWE have worked tirelessly to perfect the card.

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The American Nightmare returned at the Saturday Night’s Main Event PLE, saved Jey Uso from John Cena’s attack, and announced a tag team match featuring himself and the Yeet Master vs. Paul and Cena. It looks like the 39-year-old attacking Cena was solely to build the Money in the Bank card.

#3. The American Nightmare was needed on TV

Cody Rhodes has been absent from WWE television since losing to John Cena at WrestleMania 41. Many fans felt the weekly shows were flat and lacked strong star power, and urged the Stamford-based promotion to bring back some major names.

Triple H’s creative regime is known for hearing what fans say. Cody Rhodes' return at SNME and resuming feud against Cena could be booked to fill the void at weekly shows.

About the author

Nayan is a WWE News and Features writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. After completing his bachelor's degree in Mass Communication from Poddar International, he began working as a YouTube script writer. Nayan then transitioned to Pinkvilla as a combat sports writer. He gained valuable experience there before finally coming under the banner of Sportskeeda.

Within 1.5 years, Nayan has written over 1,000 articles, interviewed MFN promotion owners, and conducted a Twitter campaign that gained over 50k retweets and more. He puts fact-checking and mindful journalism above everything by applying a three-check method, where he tries to verify reports from reliable sources and cross-check whether other major publications have covered them.

Looking back at his association with pro wrestling, Nayan recalls being hooked on the sport after watching Shawn Michael vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 24. Since then, the product has been an inseparable part of his life.

Apart from The Heartbreak Kid being Nayan's favorite wrestler for his confidence and charisma, he is also a fan of Brock Lesnar due to The Beast's "work speaks louder than words" attitude.

Nayan can be found performing mixed martial arts and reading true crime in his free time.

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Edited by Angana Roy