Cody Rhodes wins WWE Title
WWE
Cody Rhodes Beats Drew McIntyre For WWE Title | Key Points
- Cody Rhodes defeated Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship on the March 6, 2026 broadcast of SmackDown.
- Fan outrage has bled into social media, where over 100,000 fans have disliked an upload of Rhodes’ title win on YouTube. It has since come out that many of these dislikes were driven by bot purchases.
- Cody Rhodes will defend the WWE Championship against Randy Orton in the main event of WrestleMania 41, Night 1.
It’s WrestleMania season, where fans are primed for meltdowns over their favorites losing big matches.
Cody Rhodes regained the WWE Championship last night on SmackDown with a big win over Drew McIntyre, and fans of McIntyre are raging in the comments with their unhinged responses. As of this writing, WWE’s upload of the full match between Rhodes and McIntyre has garnered over 112,000 dislikes compared to just 27,000 likes.
This is deja vu from last year, where Jey Uso emerged as a surprise Royal Rumble favorite, last eliminating the soon-to-be-retired John Cena. This polarizing win sparked 52,000 dislikes compared to 30,000 likes. This actually bodes well for Cody as fans at WrestleMania 41, in the same building of Allegiant Stadium, showed unanimous support for Jey, cheering him on in the opening match against Gunther. Jey went on to capture his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Cody Rhodes has been announced for a one-on-one match against Randy Orton in the main event of WrestleMania 41, Night 1. Orton is also a top babyface, and given the backlash from Rhodes’ latest title win, Randy could be the bigger babyface in that match similar to the challenging Cena at WrestleMania 41.
Fans Furious, Elated With Cody Rhodes’ WWE Title Win
Backlash to Cody Rhodes is far from unanimous. In fact, many of the dislikes have been linked to possible bot purchases. Many supporters of Rhodes are hyped headed into WrestleMania season, and are quick to point out the hypocrisy of Cody Rhodes haters calling out Rhodes’ stronghold in the main event despite Roman Reigns headlining his sixth consecutive WrestleMania (and his seventh WrestleMania match in six years.) Rhodes is also going head-to-head with third-generation wrestler Randy Orton.
Where are the nepobaby insults on that half of the main event?
Rhodes detractors are mostly in support of Drew and his outstanding work over the past few years, especially after just having been rewarded with a WWE Title win just over a month ago. The Scottish Psychopath’s Sycophants are not happy with Drew being defeated after yet another brief world title reign.
This time two years ago, fan backlash helped vault Rhodes to the main event of WrestleMania 40 after The Rock swooped in and stole his spot opposite Roman Reigns. The #WeWantCody movement forced WWE to change its main event back to Rhodes vs. Reigns in what became arguably the greatest WrestleMania main event of all time. Rhodes is now dealing with the all-to-familiar “die as a hero” line from Dark Knight, which befalls every top babyface in wrestling.
