After being on the receiving end of a Package Piledriver from Kevin Owens at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, Cody Rhodes made his much-awaited return during the latest episode of SmackDown. He appeared during the main event segment when General Manager Nick Aldis demanded Owens to relinquish the winged-eagle title.

Rhodes was there to get his revenge on Owens, but Nick Aldis wasn’t having any of the chaos. The GM told Rhodes to turn around and leave for the sake of his health, for Aldis’ sake, and the sake of the company, insisting that he would handle the situation.

“Cody, I’m going to say this once, and I’m not going to share too much. For the sake of your health, for your sake, for my sake, and for the company’s sake, please turn around and let me handle this,” Aldis said.

However, Rhodes wasn’t in the mood to listen. He was tired of Owens portraying himself as the martyr and challenged him to a match to settle things once and for all. Rhodes told Owens that if he believed the referee screwed him at Saturday Night’s Main Event, he wanted a match where no referee could stop what The American Nightmare had in store for him. This was a hint of a darker, more vicious side of Rhodes, potentially a subtle tease of a heel turn down the line.

Cody Rhodes proposed a ladder match to determine the true WWE champion, which Kevin Owens accepted. Aldis then made the ladder match official for the 2025 Royal Rumble.