Cody Rhodes Continues His Story, Retaining Undisputed WWE Title At Backlash

After winning the title at WWE WrestleMania 40 and finishing his story, Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE Championship over AJ Styles at WWE Backlash in Lyon, France, to ensure that his story continues. Rhodes was making his first major title defense on Saturday after ending Roman Reigns' historic title run. The challenger came in the form of AJ Styles, after avenging his own WrestleMania loss against LA Knight in a tournament in recent weeks, and he gave a good go at being the one to put a book end on Rhodes' story. They went back and forth from the beginning, swapping dropkicks for suplexes before taking the action to the outside. 

It became a bout of reversals and avoidance as Rhodes and Styles managed to scout one another seamlessly, following one another's attempts at offense into their own maneuvers in perpetual motion. After a close Rhodes pinfall attempt, Styles took the fight to the apron as he delivered a vertical brainbuster on the hard surface. They both escaped a close count-out, exchanged strikes, escaped one another's moves once more before Styles managed to get the next major move in the form of a Burning Hammer but Rhodes kicked out of the pin attempt. The closing stretch saw Rhodes reverse Styles Clash, followed by a Cody Cutter and finally Cross Rhodes to retain his title in Lyon.