From the NJPW Rumor Mill: Why was Cody Rhodes wearing a weight-lifting belt at Strong Style-Evolved?

What’s the story?

According to a report from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it seems that former Ring of Honor World Champion and self-proclaimed “leader of the Bullet Club” Cody Rhodes may have wrestled injured at this past Sunday’s NJPW: Strong Style Evolved pay-per-view.

In case you didn’t know…

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s first ever Strong Style Evolved pay-per-view took place this past Sunday at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California. The show featured some of the top names from NJPW such as Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll, Tetsuya Naito, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.

However, the show was main-evented by the Young Bucks and the Golden Lovers, when two of the world’s best tag teams competed in one of the best tag team matches of all time.

The heart of the matter

As noted on this past Sunday at NJPW: Strong Style Evolved, Bullet Club’s Cody Rhodes was seen teaming up with his fellow stablemate Marty Scurll in order to compete in a star-studded tag team match against fellow BC members Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa—collectively known as The Guerrillas of Destiny.

Despite picking up an important win over the Guerrillas of Destiny, fans at the Walter Pyramid picked up on the fact that Cody Rhodes was seen wearing a weightlifting belt while he competed in the ring, something that was also seen around the waist of Matt Jackson later in the night.

Following the conclusion of Strong Style Evolved, Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer shed some insight into this situation and reported that Cody Rhodes may have worked the match with an injury or that the members of the Bullet Club were trying to promote and market these weightlifting belts.

What’s next?

Following the conclusion of NJPW: Strong Style Evolved, fans will now look to shift their focus towards NJPW: Sakura Genesis, which takes place on the 1st of April and will feature numerous high profile matches such as:

Kazuchika Okada vs Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship

Marty Scurll vs Will Ospreay for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship

The Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega) vs Bullet Club (Hangman Page and Cody Rhodes)

Bullet Club (The Young Bucks: Matt and Nick Jackson) vs Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi and Chase Owens) and a lot more.

Author’s take

Personally, I believe that Cody Rhodes isn’t dealing with any sort of injury. If he was then he surely wouldn’t be competing at Sakura Genesis next week and in my opinion, the reason why Rhodes was sporting a weightlifting belt was to promote and market the merch.

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