Bleacher Report brings you the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Rhodes Talks ‘Thriller’ With The Rock

After The Rock nearly replaced Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 40 earlier this year, The American Nightmare admitted this week that he has a complicated relationship with The Final Boss.

During an appearance Showy podcast (h/t Felix Upton From Ringside News), Cody was asked where he and The Rock were, and while Cody denied there was “meat” between them, he also admitted that some things between them remained unresolved:

“No, just when a situation like that happens and it’s very real, the fans have made a choice. It’s very real. I think maybe there’s a tension that’s going on. I love it universally. I grew up a Rock fan. I haven’t been around WrestleMania and what happened. I did not give information.

“Maybe there was bad advice, or maybe he wasn’t informed enough about, ‘Here’s the current order, and who’s sitting at this table.’ If we could ever have that briefing, I’d love it. The truth is, when that happens, you don’t start thinking, ‘What if I told that story?’ You start. No, you can’t. I’m too defensive.”

After Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble match for the second consecutive year, it was revealed that the plan for the main event of WrestleMania 40 would be a rematch between Rhodes and Roman Reigns.

However, on the first SmackDown after the Royal Rumble, Rhodes appeared to be sidelined to The Rock, who was staring at Reigns.

Over the next few days, fans showed their displeasure with the apparent new course of events, and things changed at the pre-WrestleMania press conference, with Rhodes saying that he would, in fact, challenge Reigns on the Biggest Stage of Them All.

Whatever the original plan, things went perfectly, The Rock returned and became one of the most intriguing characters in wrestling, and Rhodes went on to defeat Reigns for the WWE Championship.

The Rock recently made an ominous surprise return to Bad Blood and appeared to be teasing going after Rhodes, Reigns, and even both of them, meaning retaliation for the Rhodes-Rock feud could be on the horizon.

Karl Anderson Will Have Surgery

Karl Anderson said Tuesday that he underwent surgery that will keep him out of action for several months.

Anderson took instagram Posting a photo of himself in a hospital bed with his arm in a sling. He added the following caption: “Thanks to Dr. Dugas in Birmingham, Alabama, for setting me straight. See you after WrestleMania.”

The exact nature of the injury and the timeline for his return are unclear, but Anderson stated that he will announce details on Thursday. Talk’n Shop podcast.

Anderson, 44, is in the midst of his second stint with WWE after returning to the company in 2022 alongside Luke Gallows.

Gallows and Anderson were previously with WWE from 2016 to 2022 and held the Raw Tag Team Championship twice.

When they returned after a stint in TNA, Gallows and Anderson once again sided with AJ Styles, but Styles eventually returned and struck out on his own.

Since the beginning of this year, Gallows and Anderson have been used primarily in NXT and have helped develop some of WWE’s younger teams, working with Nathan Frazer, Axiom, Chase University and many others.

It’s not yet known when Anderson will return and how he will be used when he does, but his post suggests he won’t return until April at the earliest.

WWE Talent Reportedly Unsure of Brand Allocation, Draft

With WWE Raw moving from USA Network to Netflix in January, there is reportedly uncertainty about how talent will be split when the change occurs.

Accordingly Challenger Election (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee Ringside News), WWE Superstars have yet to be told whether they will be part of the Raw or SmackDown roster come January.

They are also reportedly unsure if WWE will hold a draft or roster shake-up or just assign wrestlers to certain brands as the company sees fit.

The last two WWE drafts were held in April following WrestleMania, meaning the current rosters were determined just six months ago.

But with the move to Netflix being such a big change, WWE may want to shake things up now to ensure the Raw and SmackDown rosters are balanced to the liking of both Netflix and the US.

In recent weeks and months, the brand split has eased relatively, with Superstars appearing on the opposite show fairly regularly.

To WWE’s discretion, appearances are often explained by conversations between Raw general manager Adam Pearce and SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis.

Of course, it’s possible for WWE to eliminate the brand split altogether, which would create even more of a surprise factor with any wrestler appearing on Raw or SmackDown in a given week.

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