Cody Rhodes Reveals The Rock Pitch, Bronson Addresses Oba Controversy, Sami Zayn Praises CM Punk

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Rhodes Talks Idea for 'Soul' Storyline with The Rock

Penta's Time as WWE Champion Is Coming 👀

During a conversation Wednesday with The Rock's daughter, Simone Johnson, Cody Rhodes revealed that he had an idea to involve her in his storyline with The Final Boss last year.

Leading up to Elimination Chamber 2025, The Rock made a proposal to Rhodes, asking Cody to give him his soul. Rhodes famously declined, resulting in John Cena shockingly turning heel by attacking The American Nightmare at Elimination Chamber.

Speaking Wednesday on the What Do You Wanna Talk About podcast (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Rhodes discussed the pitch he made regarding Simone's involvement.

"When he asked me for my soul, I thought, you know what would've been funny? Is to relent and give my soul, but not to him," Rhodes said. "And this is at the time when you were the NXT general manager, to you. And I thought, that's got legs. I'll never say a word again. She'll speak."

Both Rhodes and Johnson expressed their belief that they would have "crushed" the storyline, but it never got off the ground since Cody never actually presented it to The Rock.

Had Rhodes done so, Johnson expressed her belief that her father would have been open to the idea, saying, "I think he would've been all for it."

While Johnson is no longer with WWE, she was at the time of the "soul" storyline, as she performed under the name Ava in NXT.

Ava was the NXT general manager, giving her an authoritative presence that at least a portion of the WWE audience would have been familiar with.

However, coming out of Elimination Chamber 2025, essentially all of the focus was on Rhodes and Cena, as The Rock removed himself from the feud and allowed them to get the spotlight.

Had Rhodes pitched his idea and gotten Ava to be part of the storyline, though, it is fair to wonder if that would have kept The Rock around for the entirety of the WrestleMania 41 build.

Reed Addresses Controversial Segment with Oba

Bronson Reed brushed off the controversy surrounding his segment with Oba Femi from last week's episode of Raw.

After Reed made his surprise return from injury at Sunday Night's Main Event, he and the rest of The Vision brutally attacked Femi last week on Raw.

At the end of the onslaught, Reed put his foot on a prone Femi, only for The Ruler to shove Reed's foot off of him.

During an interview this week with The West Sport (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), Reed chalked up Oba's reaction to competitive spirit and the desire to be the top guy.

"Well, I think you've got to remember, like, I am the top dog," Reed said. "I'm always going to assert dominance and that's what I would try to do and he's very much the same. That's why he obviously hit my foot off, like, so if people have speculation about these things, then go for it. Speculate, but of course, like, both of us want to be number one and we're going to do whatever it takes to be number one."

Coming out of that Raw, WrestleVotes on Fightful Select (h/t Cain A. Knight of Cageside Seats) reported that Oba's reaction to Reed's pose was not scripted.

WrestleVotes added that some people within WWE were not happy with the way Femi handled the situation.

There don't seem to be any hard feelings on Reed's part, though, which suggests he and Oba should have no issue working together in their rivalry moving forward.

Femi still has unfinished business with Bron Breakker after their SNME match ended in a disqualification, but everything seems to be building toward an eventual one-on-one clash between Bronson and Oba as well.

On the heels of beating CM Punk for the WWE Championship last week on SmackDown, Sami Zayn gave his rival some credit this week.

During an appearance on Busted Open (h/t WrestlePurists ), Zayn noted that although he has had his doubts about Punk over the years, he has been impressed with his in-ring work.

"Phony? Yeah. Overrated? I have to be honest, I never got in the ring with him until earlier this year, and I can't take it away from him," Zayn said. "He's great in the ring. He actually opened my eyes because for a long time, the hype around Punk was like… you can say the same thing about me because people have said it about me. They're like, 'I don't get this guy.' And there were times that Punk, to the levels he reached, I was like, 'I don't get how he reached these levels.' Clearly, there is something about him, but I didn't always get the hype.

"But after I got in the ring with him three or four times this year, you can't take it away from him. Trust me, I would love to. I would love to just sit here and bash him for the next 10-15 minutes. But in the ring, I can't take it away from him."

Just nine days after Zayn won the WWE title for the first time, he dropped it to a returning Punk on the July 6 episode of Raw in Punk's hometown of Chicago.

Zayn had been angling for a rematch ever since then, and he finally got it last week on SmackDown in Mexico City.

It was a chaotic bout that saw Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae and Kevin Owens all get involved. Owens meant to hit Zayn with the WWE title belt after Zayn previously cost him in his title match against Punk, but he accidentally hit Punk instead.

That led to Sami pinning and defeating Punk, making him the 33rd different Superstar in WWE history to hold the WWE Championship at least twice.

Given how last week's match went down, the rivalry between Zayn and Punk is likely far from over, and Zayn's comments suggest he may be fine with that.