Backstage Note on Reasoning for Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther Feud

What happened to the Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton feud? It’s starting to look like WrestleMania was a one and done, at least for now. Though it was widely reported initially that the follow-up would be a tag team match involving Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll, McAfee killed that notion by announcing he was done with pro wrestling. Fans hadn’t been receptive to the celebrity angle, which was widely seen as a TKO mandate to boost interest from non-fans.

Now instead of Orton, Rhodes looks to be feuding with Gunther, who was originally going to go after Roman Reigns. In today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer talks a bit about the creative shakeup, noting that, “Orton hasn’t appeared since WrestleMania. There is no confirmation of an Orton injury, but we had reported he was hurting. Before the show the plan was for Orton to win with the proviso that could be changed based on his injury status.”

Obviously Orton didn’t win, but his absence can easily be explained in storyline as post-Mania time off, rather than having to specify any injury. Meltzer notes that Gunther had earlier filmed an interview segment leaning towards a Reigns feud, but now the segments are building towards Cody versus Gunther at a future PLE. In any case, it doesn’t look like Gunther’s streak of retiring opponents will continue, as both Rhodes and Reigns have plenty of career life left in them.