Las Vegas – John Cena and Coy Rhodes had one last confrontation Friday night in the last “Smackdown” episode before their Wrestlemania 41 matchup at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Cena and Rhodes acted shots against each other as they have done for weeks. For a moment, Rhodes was at the receiving end of some boos from the crowd in the T-Mobile Arena. Cen had a reminder of “American Nightmare.”
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John Cena goes into Cody Rhodes Promo during Smackdown Friday night at T-Mobile Arena on April 18, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Andrew Timms/WWE via Getty Images)
“On Sunday to beat you, I don’t have to fight,” Cena told Rhodes when he chopped him in the head.
Cena then tried to put Rhodes in his signature setting adjustment maneuver, but Rhodes opposed the opposite and hit the 16-time WWE champion with a cross rhodes and left Cena on his back in the middle of the ring.
It was the last message that was sent before their epic match at Evening 2 of Wwes leading live event.
Rhodes told Pakinomist Digital in the days that led up to Wrestlemania that facing Cena was a “first-time-ever-” experience for him because of the turn Cena has made away from fans.
“I look at a lot of things now that John and my match on Wrestlemania 41. I really look at it as if it’s the first time ever,” Rhodes explained. “John was someone who came in and not right away, but he found his foot quickly about who John Cena would stay, and he waved it flag and carried his brand very firmly, a lot in a disciplined way as long as he did.
WRESTLEMANIA 41 NIGHT 2 WILL SEE John Cena try to make history against Cody Rhodes
“Really helped pull the wagon on WWE during a transitional period. I feel like he has always been John for me – a good guy or bad guy. You had to work so hard if not harder and you have to get to his level, otherwise he would step over you and then leave you in the dust.”
Rhodes added that he would never have thought that Cena would have turned heels during his career, having been loved by fans for so long.
Cody Rhodes stands over John Cena during Smackdown Friday night at T-Mobile Arena on April 18, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Mike Owens /WWE via Getty Images)
“So now, when I look at Matchup, that’s why I say it feels like a first time for me because I hadn’t found my foot early in my career. I didn’t know who I was,” he said. “And now, especially to judge from these earlier several interactions in the ring, I feel that we know who each other is now … I couldn’t have put it in my wildest dreams that this would be a wrestlemania headline and main event, especially in the circumstances it has come under. But it is the beautiful thing about pro wrestling; it is too hard to call.”
Wrestlemania 41 Night 2 is set to Sunday at. 7pm one. Should Cena win, it would be a record-breaking 17. WWE title for him.
