Cody Rhodes and Gunther faced off to end “Friday Night SmackDown” as the former will defend the Undisputed against the latter at Clash in Italy on Sunday.
Rhodes had plenty to be upset about. Gunther was forced into a title match thanks to a favor that Paul Heyman owed him. multiple times in the week since. Gunther promised that the sneak attacks were over as he came out to address Rhodes.
Gunther had pointed words for Rhodes, again.
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“Im pretty new to ‘SmackDown’ but figured out pretty quickly that all about you,” Gunther began. “And if its not about you, you find a way to make it about yourself. And it might not be your fault, Cody, because youre just a product of the culture you grew up in where egotism and narcissism and nepotism gets rewarded. It gets you one ahead of everybody else. And its very fitting that your name is the American Nightmare because right now, youre the perfect symbol of the crumbling American dream.
“I know what youre thinking, it may be low-hanging fruit. But Im talking about the concept of the American dream. What they told me as a boy is if you want to max out your life, you got to leave home behind, you got to move to America and from discipline, hard work and sacrifice, you can achieve it all. Ive done that. Ive earned the position that Im in. Whereas for you, everything was just one phone call away.”
Gunther went over Rhodes career and everything that he did was just one phone call away. He said that made Rhodes “a little, entitled brat.” Gunther said, for him, all of that was unnecessary. He said his goal was to “protect this sacred sport” from people like him and that he was a “mark” for himself.
Rhodes said Gunther was a “liar.”
“Yeah because every kid dreams of becoming a professional wrestler, of carrying the chip and not getting that attention, right? You dont want the attention that comes with carrying the WWE championship. You dont want to be on the poster for Clash in Italy. You dont want to be on the first hour of ESPN on the featured match. You dont want the third-party appearance, the talk shows, the media, you dont want the weight that comes with the WWE championship. You dont want a crowd that knows and signs every single word of your song. You dont want that?
“Im going to tell you something â I know that you want it. Otherwise, Id be talking to a 330-pound version of yourself in front of a couple hundred people at an indie show. But instead, Im talking to the most refined, most dangerous, the peak form of an athlete you have made yourself.”
Rhodes said he was going to come “this close” that Gunther “desperately” seeks and that he was going to find out the worst thing he could ever find out.
“Youre just not that good,” reminding Gunther that he was “easy to find, but hard to beat.”
Gunther shot back that he took out legends like Goldberg, and that Rhodes would be next on his list.
in the ring to get attacked by Gunther last week on “Friday Night SmackDown.” Gunther put Rhodes in a sleeper hold while Zayn turned his back and walked down the ramp following his own loss to the undisputed WWE champion.
Zayn addressed Rhodes early in the night. Rhodes and Zayn met in the back. The “American Nightmare” said he had nothing to say to Zayn after last week.
“Maybe you should. Maybe you should start by saying youre sorry. Last week, I didnt ask for a fight with you,” Zayn said. “I didnt want to fight my friend. You asked for that fight. And even still, in spite of that, in spite of everything thats gone on between you and me, when Gunther got involved last week and he started to choke you out, what did I do? I had your back. I took care of him. I did the right thing. I tried to help you. And how did you repay me? You stuck me with t
