Cody Rhodes continues to be presented as WWE’s top babyface, yet his actions tell a different story. At Saturday Night’s Main Event, he once again leaned on questionable tactics to retain his Undisputed WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre.
This wasn’t the first time. Rhodes had previously defeated Kevin Owens by planting him with a DDT on the championship belt while the referee was down. Against McIntyre, he repeated the same approach, echoing his earlier disqualification incident when he struck Drew with the title in plain sight.
Commentary tried to justify the outcome, with Michael Cole pointing out that McIntyre introduced the belt first. Wade Barrett clarified that simply holding the title isn’t grounds for disqualification unless it’s used as a weapon. Still, the booking left fans with a sense of déjà vu. WWE had the chance to protect Rhodes by allowing a loss via count‑out or disqualification, but instead, the champion’s credibility took another hit.