Cody Rhodes defeated Dominik Mysterio at WWE Money in the Bank 2023 in a largely one-sided match where he was massively over with the London crowd. Brock Lesnar was nowhere to be found following Rhodes’ latest pay-per-view win.

The crowd loudly sang every word of Rhodes’ theme music, while showering him with soccer-style chants throughout, to the point where the announce team literally gave up doing commentary during a stretch. Rhodes ultimately put Mysterio down with a Cross Rhodes.

Rhodes vs. Mysterio pit two second-generation performers with two wildly different reputations. One of the most dynamic babyfaces WWE has seen in years, Cody Rhodes’ legacy is beginning to crystallize and may already be enough to land him in the Hall of Fame. Dominik Mysterio, on the other hand, is portrayed—quite brilliantly—as a cowering, spoiled child who lies about his street cred and hides behind his dominant, overpowered onscreen girlfriend Rhea Ripley. Michael Cole even noted that Dominik was bragging about receiving a jaywalking ticket while in London.

A real convict.

Mysterio has gotten the better of Rhodes on a series of cat-and-mouse exchanges where Mysterio dealt Rhodes a cheapshot before quickly escaping. On its surface, the Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio rivalry seemed to be a basic babyface vs. heel feud, with the babyface ultimately prevailing.

But nothing is basic when it comes to Cody Rhodes.

After WWE gaffed and booked Roman Reigns to retain the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania (a title Reigns has not defended since), excuses have come out of the woodwork about how Rhodes needs to face adversity in order to “earn” a WWE Title win.

“I think it’s important that the title not go to Cody because I think what Cody is going through in this series Brock Lesnar is giving him the credential, so that when he does — and I think there will definitely be a moment where he becomes that guy, everyone will feel like he deserved it,” said WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley on a recent episode of “Foley is Pod.”

It’s a truly hilarious remark on days like Money in the Bank, where a WWE Superstar can become a world champion just hours after grabbing a briefcase.

Rhodes’ ongoing feud with Brock Lesnar opened the door for a possible run-in by Lesnar, which could have lead to a massive upset for Dom (+400), but that did not happen.

The long game for Cody Rhodes is a seemingly inevitable date with Roman Reigns in a rare WrestleMania main event rematch at WrestleMania 40. Rhodes has been selling a (kayfabe) broken arm for over a month now due to Lesnar, who will stand in Rhodes’ path as his latest adversity-builder. Rhodes and Lesnar will almost certainly face off at SummerSlam in Detroit, and for what it’s worth,Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc) this is likely to be a Bullrope match—the match made famous by Cody’s father Dusty Rhodes.