WWE wants to protect former champion despite having him 'job' to top name - Reports

Cody Rhodes will be taking on Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39 for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Six days before the biggest match of his life, he had to face Reigns' cousin Solo Sikoa – a man who has not been pinned in singles action.

While Rhodes won the match and ended Sikoa's streak, WWE still managed to protect the Samoan superstar. Before the match, Paul Heyman cut a promo saying that Solo's job was to injure Cody and ensure that he is not 100% by the time he faces Reigns at WrestleMania 39.

Per Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, the company is still protecting Sikoa despite him doing the job to Cody Rhodes. He stated that the angle was planned in a manner that a loss to Rhodes would not harm Sikoa as Heyman made it clear that Solo wasn't aiming to win.

''That was that. That was, that was basically the way that he could lose. Because they've already told you ahead of time he wasn't trying to win. So it was basically... the promo was to protect Solo because he was going to do the job,'' said Meltzer.

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WWE has big plans for Solo Sikoa in the future

The youngest member of the Bloodline has been dominant ever since he made his main roster debut. The Enforcer has shown shades of Umaga and Taz and has been portrayed as a wrecking machine. Dave Meltzer has also stated that WWE is preparing Sikoa for a potential feud against Roman Reigns down the line.

Meltzer noted that losing to Rhodes is not a major negative as The American Nightmare could be the next Universal Champion by the end of WrestleMania 39.

Much like Heyman stated in his promo, Sikoa did 'weaken' Rhodes during their match and the beating given by Solo could end up being the primary reason that Rhodes is unable to defeat The Tribal Chief at WrestleMania Hollywood.