Cody Rhodes is in a tough spot at Night of Champions

Cody Rhodes defeating Brock Lesnar at Backlash was a pretty big deal, because, well, it’s still a pretty damn big deal to score a clean singles victory over Brock Lesnar. It’s not something that happens very often.

Having said that, Rhodes is in a much tougher spot now that a rematch between the two has been booked for Night of Champions on May 27 in Saudi Arabia. That’s because while it is rare for Lesnar to take a clean singles loss, it’s even more rare that he loses twice in a row to the same wrestler, at least since his return to WWE back in 2012.

Here’s the rundown:

• John Cena beat him at Extreme Rules 2012. They wouldn’t wrestle again until SummerSlam 2014 and Lesnar annihilated him. Cena won in the next match at Night of Champions 2014 via DQ, and then lost the next time they met at Royal Rumble 2015 in a triple threat match that also included Seth Rollins.
• Triple H beat him at WrestleMania 29 and then lost in the rematch at Extreme Rules.
• The Undertaker beat him at SummerSlam 2015 and then lost in the rematch at Hell in a Cell 2015.
• Goldberg beat him at Survivor Series 2016 and then lost to him the next time they wrestled, which was for the Universal championship at WrestleMania 33.
• Seth Rollins beat him for the Universal championship at WrestleMania 35 and then lost the title right back to him at Extreme Rules a couple months later when Lesnar cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Rollins would win the title back at SummerSlam 2019 before Lesnar went off to SmackDown to win the WWE title from Kofi Kingston.
• Drew McIntyre beat him for the WWE championship at WrestleMania 36. They did not have a rematch.
• Bobby Lashley beat him for the WWE championship at Royal Rumble 2022 and then lost the title back to him at Elimination Chamber 2022. For good measure, he also beat Lashley in their next singles match at Crown Jewel 2022, though Lashley did get a DQ win over him at Elimination Chamber 2023.

You see, then, that a wrestler defeating Lesnar in consecutive matches just isn’t something that happens since the big return back in 2012. The only man to do it, actually, is Roman Reigns, who is in the midst of what WWE is trying to make one of the greatest championship runs of all time. He is the outlier.

You can come out square with or even ahead of Lesnar in the end, but winning two matches consecutively against him has so far been reserved for only the crown jewel of the roster. It’s hard to imagine Rhodes joining that list.

Then again, I wouldn’t have ever thought Rhodes would beat Rollins at three straight PPVs last year and he did that.

Jeddah awaits.