The WarGames Twist We Need

WWE is clearly heading toward WarGames.

The Bloodline is once again becoming the center of a much larger fight, and on the opposite side stands 946. If that is indeed where WWE is headed for Survivor Series, there is a way to turn what already looks like a major match into something that could reshape WWE television for the next year.

But WWE would have to keep one hell of a secret.

First, let’s establish the Bloodline.

If you’re doing WarGames, don’t give us some watered-down version of the group. Put the family back together at full strength: Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu.

There are obviously issues between those five men. There SHOULD be issues between those five men. Years of betrayal, manipulation and attempted murder-by-Samoan-spike shouldn’t disappear because everybody suddenly bought matching T-shirts again.

But that’s part of what makes it work.

They don’t have to like each other.

They have to realize that 946 has become a big enough problem that dealing with it requires the Bloodline at full strength.

That gives you five.

The interesting part is getting 946 to five.

Je’Von Evans Should Join 946

I’ll admit right now that I’ve never been particularly high on Je’Von Evans.

The athletic ability is obvious. That’s never been the problem.

The problem is that being ridiculously athletic isn’t a character.

There are only so many times somebody can be presented as the exciting young guy who does incredible things before you have to answer a much more important question:

Who the hell is he?

Putting Evans with 946 could finally answer that.

Make him the fourth member.

Don’t completely change the way he wrestles. Don’t suddenly make him walk around scowling and pretending he’s been a hardened criminal for 15 years.

Just let being around Royce Keys, Bronco Nima and Lucien Price change him.

Make him more serious. More calculated. Give him an edge that hasn’t been there before.

Instead of Je’Von being another young wrestler we’re repeatedly told has a tremendous future, give him a reason to believe WWE isn’t going to hand him that future.

946 will.

Suddenly, Je’Von Evans has a character arc.

More importantly, 946 has four members.

Then somebody asks Royce Keys the obvious question.

WarGames requires five.

Where’s number five?

Royce gives them one answer:

“We’ve got five.”

That’s it.

And I mean THAT’S IT.

No cryptic promos.

No mysterious silhouette.

No distorted voice.

No “when you find out who our fifth man is, WWE will never be the same.”

None of that shit.

Don’t even hint that there is a surprise coming.

Royce says 946 has a fifth man and refuses to discuss it again.

Let the audience forget about trying to solve the mystery.

Because the fifth man needs to be someone almost nobody would seriously consider.

“Wrestling Has More Than One Royal Family”

WarGames arrives.

Nine men have entered.

Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu are inside the cage with Royce Keys, Bronco Nima, Lucien Price and Je’Von Evans.

The clock reaches zero for 946’s final entrant.

Nothing happens.

Maybe Roman starts laughing.

Maybe Jey thinks Royce was bluffing all along.

Royce doesn’t panic.

He just looks toward the entrance.

Then you hear it.

“Wrestling has more than one royal family.”

Cody Rhodes.

That’s the moment.

And this absolutely CANNOT leak.

I’m talking about the number of people who know beforehand being small enough to fit inside a bathroom stall.

Don’t put Cody backstage near 946.

Don’t shoot suspicious camera angles.

Don’t have Cody suddenly disappear from television for three weeks.

Don’t start dropping references to Dusty Rhodes or Cody’s past that make everybody on Reddit immediately figure the damn thing out.

Cody should be doing Cody Rhodes things right up until Survivor Series.

Then his music hits.

The best part is what happens inside the cage.

946 isn’t surprised.

Royce Keys isn’t shocked.

Bronco Nima and Lucien Price don’t look confused.

Je’Von Evans doesn’t ask what Cody is doing there.

They already knew.

Roman Reigns realizes that immediately.

Cody enters the cage.

He and Roman stand across from each other.

After everything between these two men—the WrestleMania matches, the championship, the Bloodline, Cody finishing his story—Roman only needs one word.

“You?”

Cody attacks him.

And from that point forward, this shouldn’t be an evenly matched finishing stretch.

It should be an execution.

946 dismantles the Bloodline.

Eventually Royce hands Roman to Cody.

Cross Rhodes.

Cody picks him up.

Another Cross Rhodes.

Then one more.

And after spending years chasing Roman Reigns, after losing to him, finally defeating him and finishing the story…

Cody Rhodes puts one foot on Roman Reigns’ chest.

One.

Two.

Three.

Don’t hook the leg.

Don’t kneel beside him.

One foot.

That’s the image you end Survivor Series with.

Cody Rhodes Was Behind 946 the Entire Time

The next night on Raw, 946 comes to the ring.

And Cody Rhodes walks out with them.

Now you explain everything.

Royce Keys didn’t suddenly acquire influence.

Someone gave it to him.

Someone made phone calls.

Someone opened doors.

Someone made sure Royce and 946 couldn’t simply be pushed aside when they became inconvenient.

That person was Cody Rhodes.

Cody was 946’s benefactor from the beginning.

And here’s where this becomes more than a heel turn for the sake of having a heel turn.

Cody explains WHY.

He talks about Royce.

He talks about seeing a talented wrestler entering the WWE machine and recognizing exactly what was about to happen.

Because Cody has seen this company decide what a Rhodes is supposed to be before.

Hell, it happened to his father.

Dusty Rhodes had already been a world champion before he ever became the polka-dot-wearing “Common Man” in WWE.

Think about how Cody could frame that.

“My father walked into this company as the American Dream. A world champion. One of the biggest stars this business had ever seen.

“And they put him in polka dots.”

Cody doesn’t even have to claim Dusty hated it. That’s not the point.

The point, from Cody’s perspective, is that WWE looked at Dusty Rhodes and decided it knew what Dusty Rhodes should be.

Then years later, it did the same thing to his son.

Cody can talk about arriving in WWE carrying the Rhodes name and eventually being painted gold, given a completely different identity and expected to smile while somebody else decided what his career was supposed to become.

He did it.

Until he couldn’t anymore.

He left WWE.

He rebuilt himself.

He helped create an alternative.

He made himself into such a major star that WWE eventually had to bring Cody Rhodes back as CODY RHODES.

And then he finished the story.

That’s where Cody’s motivation for helping Royce becomes incredibly compelling.

Cody saw WWE preparing to decide who Royce Keys was going to be.

And this time, Cody Rhodes had enough power to stop them.

Cody Doesn’t Think He’s the Bad Guy

This is the key to the entire story.

Do NOT turn Cody Rhodes into Generic Heel Number 47.

Don’t have him suddenly start insulting the fans.

Don’t have him wear all black because apparently changing your alignment in professional wrestling also changes your wardrobe.

Don’t have him start cheating in every match and laughing maniacally backstage.

Cody Rhodes should remain Cody Rhodes.

Because Cody believes he’s right.

He believes he saved Royce Keys.

He believes he saved Je’Von Evans.

He believes he is protecting the next generation from something that happened to Dusty and then happened to him.

That’s far more interesting than Cody suddenly deciding he hates everybody.

Cody can explain that when he returned to WWE, he thought winning the WWE Championship would complete his journey.

It didn’t.

Finishing the story gave Cody something he had never possessed before.

Power.

Not storyline authority.

Real influence.

The kind that comes from becoming one of the biggest stars in the company.

And Cody decided he was going to use that influence.

Royce was the first person he chose.

Je’Von was another.

There could be more.

Now 946 isn’t simply another wrestling faction.

It’s Cody Rhodes’ attempt to make sure WWE never gets to decide what someone is allowed to become again.

That’s an ideology.

And ideologies can create much better wrestling stories than “we’re five bad guys who like beating people up.”

Then Cody Turns His Attention to Roman Reigns

Eventually Cody gets to Roman.

And this is where everything comes full circle.

Cody tells Roman that, for all their differences, Roman understood something years before Cody did.

The championship wasn’t what made Roman powerful.

The Bloodline did.

Roman created an entire infrastructure around himself.

Family members protected him.

They interfered for him.

They took punishment for him.

They made sacrifices so Roman Reigns could remain the Tribal Chief.

Roman built an organization designed to protect his position.

Cody learned from him.

“You built your family to protect your position.

“I built mine to change this company.”

There’s your money line.

Because Cody has effectively beaten Roman at his own game.

Except there is one enormous difference.

Roman Reigns eventually knew exactly what he had become.

Cody Rhodes still thinks he’s the hero.

Don’t Turn Cody Rhodes Into Someone Else

I’ve heard the argument forever that Cody Rhodes can’t turn heel because the entire character is built around being this generation’s ultimate babyface.

I think that’s exactly WHY this could work.

Don’t change the character.

Change the context.

The suits remain.

The elaborate entrances remain.

The speeches remain.

The obsession with legacy remains.

The desire to represent professional wrestling remains.

The belief that Cody Rhodes is carrying something bigger than himself remains.

Except now there’s something uncomfortable underneath all of it.

Cody doesn’t merely want to succeed within WWE anymore.

Cody wants control over what WWE becomes.

And every terrible thing he does can be justified in his mind as necessary to prevent WWE from doing to another generation what he believes it did to the Rhodes family.

Dusty Rhodes walked into WWE as the American Dream, and WWE put him in polka dots.

Cody Rhodes eventually became Stardust.

Cody left, rebuilt himself and returned powerful enough to dictate his own identity.

Now Royce Keys and 946 are his attempt to make sure nobody he chooses ever has to make that journey again.

That gives you a Cody Rhodes heel turn without destroying Cody Rhodes.

It gives Je’Von Evans the character development he desperately needs.

It turns 946 from another faction into something considerably bigger.

And it gives Roman Reigns perhaps the most interesting enemy he could have after years of being the man manipulating everyone else.

Because Roman built the Bloodline to rule WWE.

Cody Rhodes built 946 because he believes WWE needs to be saved from itself.

And the most dangerous part?

Cody believes he’s the man who should save it.