"Roman is the greatest enemy of my life" - Former WWE Champion reflects on his match against Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is The OTC (Image via WWE.com)
Roman Reigns is The OTC (Image via WWE.com)

Former WWE Champion Cody Rhodes has reflected on his match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39. He called it his favorite match of all time.

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The American Nightmare won the 2023 Royal Rumble match and faced The Tribal Chief in the main event of that year's Showcase of the Immortals. He failed to win the title that night, but dethroned The OTC the following year and ended his 1,316-day reign.

During a recent interview with The Ringer, Cody Rhodes explained why his first match with Roman Reigns was his favorite of all time.

"My favorite match is WrestleMania 39, which is the one where it doesn't happen. I probably would have been pumped to win, but there's something about that night where things were happening in the arena, or the stadium, that had never happened to me. He's got me in the guillotine choke. And you hear these old-timers, and God bless them, I love them, talk about, you know, just stay right there, and the people will react and they'll connect. When you've seen the amount of cool flips and awesome stuff, sometimes that seems like, I don't know, maybe that's not real anymore," said Rhodes.
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He added that Roman Reigns was his biggest foe during the bout and in Kayfabe.

"And then in that moment, I remember I'm just slowly wiggling my head out, and I can hear an entire stadium where the sound goes up, start to move. And I thought, 'Oh man, they're into this. How blessed am I that they're into this?' And when it's that good, it feels completely real. Everything seems real. Roman is the greatest enemy of my life. And I'm trying to climb a mountain that's impossible to climb. And that just acoustic moment for me had made it my favorite match of all time."
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Roman Reigns will make his WWE in-ring return at SummerSlam

The last time the Tribal Chief competed in the ring was at WrestleMania 41 Night 1. He clashed with Seth Rollins and CM Punk in a triple threat, and The Visionary won the bout. He made his return on RAW two weeks ago and is set to compete at SummerSlam.

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Roman Reigns will team up with his cousin Jey Uso to take on Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed in a tag team match. This will be The OTC's first match since WrestleMania 41.


If you use any quotes from this article, please credit The Ringer and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

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Edited by Israel Lutete
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