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Any conversation regarding WrestleMania would be incomplete without WWE's biggest superstar, Roman Reigns. The Tribal Chief is scheduled to defend his world championship belts against Kevin Owens at Royal Rumble, and during this week's Smack Talk, Dutch Mantell briefly explained why a title change seems highly unlikely.
The upcoming clash will be Reigns, and Owens' third singles match at Royal Rumble, as they wrestled against each other for the Universal Championship at the 2017 and 2021 editions. While Kevin Owens had a great 2022, which included facing Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 38, there aren't many fans who expect KO to pull off an upset against Reigns.
WWE has kept Owens strong in recent months; however, it may just be so that Roman Reigns adds another successful title defense to his resume.
Dutch Mantell highlighted that if the endgame is for Cody Rhodes to challenge Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39, Triple H's team would ideally not let the undisputed championship change hands at Royal Rumble 2023.
Here's Mantell's prediction, as revealed on Sportskeeda's WrestleBinge YouTube channel:
"If Cody [Rhodes] is in the wings, they are not dropping it to Kevin [Owens]. That spoils the WrestleMania deal, and that [Cody vs. Reigns] would be great." [From 21:15 onwards]
Dutch Mantell believes WWE is setting up Cody Rhodes for a monumental win over Roman Reigns
With major concerns regarding the mega match against Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, all roads lead to Cody Rhodes challenging Roman Reigns at WrestleMania Hollywood.
Rhodes is presently the odds-on favorite to win the Royal Rumble match, giving him a guaranteed ticket to headline WrestleMania in what would be the most important match of his career.
The American Nightmare returned to WWE last year, hoping to capture the elusive world title, and Dutch Mantell felt the creative team was also setting the stage for the inevitable.
Considering the momentum that Rhodes has as a "white meat babyface," booking to go over might be the best option. Mantell noted why it might happen:
"These are touching vignettes they're doing on him. He's got Dusty in there, he got hurt. So he's not just winning, he's winning for everybody else. He is what you call a white meat babyface and they could really get some heat on him."
Should Cody Rhodes be the one to dethrone The Bloodline leader finally? If you have another interesting name in mind, let us know in the comments section below.
If you use the quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcript.
