Cody Rhodes just went through hell and back to retain the WWE Championship in a brutal, high-risk Ladder Match against Kevin Owens at the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble. With WrestleMania looming, both men threw caution to the wind, taking insane bumps onto ladders that had the crowd wincing with every impact.
Cody Rhodes vs. Owens Underrated Feud
One of the match’s most jaw-dropping moments came when Owens delivered a vicious Fisherman’s Buster onto a ladder, leaving both men writhing in pain. Sami Zayn, hoodie up, stood with WWE officials at ringside, watching his friends destroy each other. With his allegiances already in question heading into the Rumble, Zayn stayed neutral, letting Rhodes and Owens fight their war without interference. In the end, Rhodes sealed his victory with a brutal Alabama Slam that sent Owens crashing through a ladder, securing his title reign for another day.
Rhodes vs. Owens has been one of the most inventive—if underrated—feuds of Rhodes’ championship run. When you set the bar with arguably the greatest WWE storyline ever, incredible rivalries sometimes fly under the radar. That’s just the price of making history.
Owens’ descent into full-fledged villainy was unconventional, to say the least. His attack on Rhodes after WWE Bad Blood 2024 didn’t unfold in a dramatic TV segment or a pay-per-view shocker—it happened in a parking lot, captured by a fan’s smartphone. The grainy footage of Owens ambushing Rhodes outside his tour bus spread like wildfire online before WWE’s official channels even acknowledged it. This guerrilla-style booking was one of WWE’s boldest creative swings in recent memory.
Kevin Owens Went Full Heel Heading into Royal Rumble 2025
Once fully in heel mode, Owens leaned into chaos. His promos were raw, unscripted, and sometimes filmed from his car, interrupting live broadcasts with fiery, worked-shoot tirades. But the feud wasn’t just about pushing boundaries—it also honored WWE history. The WWE Championship Ladder Match featured both the modern WWE Title and the legendary Winged Eagle Championship hanging above the ring, raising speculation that Rhodes’ long-time dream of reinstating the classic belt could soon become a reality.
Rhodes entered the Royal Rumble as a staggering -4000 favorite, a near-lock to retain. And he delivered, keeping his undefeated Rumble streak intact since his game-changing 2022 return.
Sami Zayn: The Wild Card That Wasn’t
WWE had fans on edge, teasing a potential Sami Zayn betrayal that never came. With the Royal Rumble looming—where Zayn remains a dark horse favorite—his recent “accidental” Helluva Kicks on Rhodes and Seth Rollins had fueled speculation that he might turn on Owens in a Ladder Match where anything goes. A betrayal in the vein of his shocking 2017 Hell in a Cell assist for Owens seemed like a real possibility.
But Zayn held back, watching as his longtime friend got dismantled. Now, with more questions than answers, all eyes are on Sami heading into the Royal Rumble. Could this have been a slow burn toward an even bigger moment? Or did he let an opportunity slip through his fingers? Either way, the fallout from this war is far from over.
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