A member of Cody Rhodes' family shared a heartfelt message today ahead of this Friday's episode of WWE SmackDown. Rhodes will be defending the Undisputed WWE Championship in a Steel Cage Match in the upcoming edition of the blue brand.
The Bloodline's Solo Sikoa will once again be challenging The American Nightmare for the title. Rhodes got the better of the 31-year-old last month at SummerSlam after Roman Reigns interfered in the match. Cody's sister, Teil Rhodes, celebrated her birthday today. The SmackDown star sent his sister a birthday message, and she reacted with a heartfelt reply of her own.
"Love you Champ ❤️," she wrote.
Rhodes suggested that he defend the title against The Bloodline's Jacob Fatu instead during last week's edition of SmackDown, but the latter acknowledged his Tribal Chief, seemingly indicating that he was not interested in getting ahead at the expense of Solo.
SmackDown General Manager, Nick Aldis, made the Steel Cage Match between Sikoa Sikoa and Cody Rhodes official for this Friday's show. It will be the first episode of the blue brand on the USA Network following WWE's deal with Fox coming to an end.
Bill Apter claims Cody Rhodes' title could be in danger if WWE SmackDown star challenges him
Wrestling veteran, Bill Apter, recently claimed that Cody Rhodes' title reign could be in trouble if Jacob Fatu got an opportunity to face him.
Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Champion in the main event of WrestleMania XL Night Two. He has put together an impressive title reign so far and defeated Kevin Owens at Bash in Berlin earlier this month to retain the gold.
Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk show, Apter stated that he thought Fatu posed a bigger threat than Sikoa to the champion. He added that fans don't have much interest in seeing another match between Sikoa and Rhodes.
"I don't think the fans necessarily want to see Solo against Cody Rhodes as much as they want to see the maniacal, the crazy, the nutcase Fatu against Cody. I think with Jacob Fatu against Cody, there is more of a chance that Cody's title might be in danger," said Apter. [From 5:22 onwards]
You can check out Apter's comments in the video below:
Rhodes has been champion for 156 days so far. It will be fascinating to see if Sikoa can pull off a major upset and capture the title this Friday night on SmackDown.