Plans for Cody Rhodes on WWE SmackDown revealed

WWE's plans for Cody Rhodes on tonight's episode of SmackDown have been revealed. Tonight's episode of the blue brand will air live from Tempe, Arizona.

Drew McIntyre was supposed to face Jacob Fatu last Friday night on SmackDown in a singles match. However, the Samoan Werewolf was brutally attacked backstage before the match by a mystery assailant.

Cody Rhodes replaced Fatu in the bout against McIntyre, but the match ended via disqualification after The American Nightmare struck his rival over the head with the Undisputed WWE Championship.

The two stars then brawled after the match until security broke it up. According to the company's official website, both Rhodes and McIntyre are scheduled to appear on tonight's episode of SmackDown following last week's wild brawl.

Cody Rhodes defeated Drew McIntyre at WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025 last month to retain the title. He will defend it against McIntyre once again next weekend at Saturday Night's Main Event.

Vince Russo claims WWE SmackDown feels emotionless

Wrestling legend Vince Russo recently criticized the company's creative and suggested that SmackDown felt emotionless while watching it.

Speaking on Sportskeeda's BroDown show, Russo complained about the blue brand and noted that the show lacked compelling storylines. The veteran compared the product to the Rocky movie franchise and suggested that the films wouldn't have been successful if they had only focused on boxing.

"I sit there emotionless. I sit there like there's nothing. Nothing stimulates me. There's no up, there's no down. I'm emotionless watching these shows. How can you get emotion?" He continued, "How do you get emotion when it's fight after fight after fight. I this say this all the time. You know what's the easiest thing to compare it to. If the movie Rocky was just the last 20 minutes of the film. All you saw was the boxing match an you knew nothing about the two people involved. That's what you're watching every single week," he said.

Yagami

@CFCband1t

Bro Smackdown is so boring. All their characters are so boring

It will be interesting to see if Cody Rhodes can defeat Drew McIntyre once again to retain his Undisputed WWE Championship next weekend at Saturday Night's Main Event.