After successfully defending the WWE Undisputed Championship against Solo Sikoa at SummerSlam, on Friday Night Smackdown Cody Rhodes announced that Kevin Owens will be his next challenger for the title at Bash in Berlin, which will take place on August 31 at the Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany.

On SmackDown, Cody Rhodes appeared to talk about his next opponent for the WWE Undisputed Championship after SummerSlam. At the time, he was interrupted by The Bloodline, but all of its members quickly retreated when Kevin Owens arrived with a chair. Finally, when ‘KO’ was leaving, Rhodes told him that he wanted to give him the opportunity for his title after having helped him on several occasions. Owens refused, arguing that he did not have a great record of victories, but the American Nightmare replied that he would see him in Germany.

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens will face each other for the second time on a televised WWE show at the Bash in Berlin. The first and only time they fought each other so far was on an episode of Monday Night RAW on April 18, 2022, where Rhodes defeated Owens by a ten-count outside the ring. So fans are surely excited to see the two fight. However, according to Bully Ray, it should’ve been a different opponent facing the American Nightmare.

On the Busted Open Podcast, Bully Ray stated that he believes Rhodes should’ve been fighting a different superstar in Berlin rather than KO, who is a babyface. His reasoning amounted to the fact that babyface vs Babyface matches are really tough to pull off. He said, “I’m thinking this will be Cody’s first time in Germany as your WWE undisputed champion. I’m sure the German fan base are going to be behind Cody. They’re going to love him. Here’s Kevin Owens. Continent baby face. People love KO. Tough guy. How the German fans are going to feel about KO? They’re going to love him, right? Yeah. And baby face, baby face masters, matches are difficult in here.”

He further added that it should’ve been a heel instead. Someone who can further establish Rhodes as the top hero in the Stamford-based promotion. Ray said, “Any heel would have been a better choice, in my opinion. Because I want to see people breathe down, Cody’s neck. I think you constantly need to have the bad guy breathing down Cody’s neck. Cody needs to be fighting from underneath on the microphone in the ring from every place. Yeah. So listen, will K.O. and Cody be a great match? Sure. And if that’s what the WWE is looking for, great. I always want to get more sympathy on my babyface champion.” Well, this actually makes one wonder why the WWE might’ve decided to put Kevin Owens in the fight. Could it be because his contract is set to expire in a few months and they want to show him that he is still a main event talent for them?

Kevin Owens has less than a year left on his contract with WWE

Kevin Owens has become a very relevant wrestler on the WWE roster. Although he has only won one world title in his almost 10 years on the main roster, Owens has always been an important asset in the company and has even been in the main event of WrestleMania 38 and 39 on his first nights. In December 2021, he renewed for three more years, so his contract was scheduled to expire sooner rather than later. In an interview with Alistair McGeorge for Metro, Kevin Owens confirmed that his contract with WWE expires in nine months, that is, in February 2025.

He said, “I really don’t take anything for granted, I’ve nine months left on my contract, and I don’t know what can happen from here on out. That’s just life. If I’ve learned anything over the last few years, it’s that nothing is guaranteed. I’ve learned that through some very unfortunate events, we’ve lost so many good people that was never expected. That’s just one example of how I do not take anything for granted. How I look at things now.”

Kevin Owens wrestled at WrestleMania 40 against Logam Paul and Randy Orton for the United States Championship, although Paul ended up retaining the title. Now, he is all set to win the Universal Championship. But do you think he would be able to pull it off? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.