All right, try this on for size…
Assuming Rock is available and has agreed to fight Roman at Wrestlemania:
- Cody returns at the Rumble and wins
- He uses his title shot either the 2/13 Raw in Brooklyn or on Raw hopefully in MSG on Monday 3/13 (MSG house show scheduled on Sunday 3/12) playing up the story of Dusty almost winning in the Garden
- Cody wins both titles here with KO/Sami & the Rock holding off the Bloodline (ala 1st Mankind/Rock title change)
This sets up Roman/Rock and Cody can defend against Lashley or Brock or heel turned Drew or even Rollins. Also, Roman losing his title before the Usos continues to shift the Bloodline dynamic with now giving the Usos a reason to 2nd guess or question Roman (especially Jey).
This also is a make good to USA since Roman has mostly appeared on Smackdown, you give them his defeat and with enough hype I'd bet you'd get the best RAW/Smackdown rating in years. Wrestlemania will sell out and drive revenue regardless of the card as they proved last year (waiting to announce Austin's appearance but not his match, nor advertising Vince or Cody wrestling before hand.) Why not pop a rating and drive TV interest?
Yeah but then Cody doesn’t get to point to the sign and take the stage at the grandest daddy of them all. Also Roman dropping the title after 1000 days on TV feels like a waste.