Cody Rhodes Joins Elite Club With King Of The Ring Victory

Cody Rhodes has made history with his King of the Ring 2025 win over Randy Orton at Night of Champions.

“The American Nightmare” became the third man in wrestling history to have held both the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship and won WWE’s King of the Ring tournament. Only two other names share that distinction: Harley Race and Ken Shamrock.

For those keeping score, Rhodes captured the NWA World Title back in September 2018 at All In, back when it was just an indie event before AEW was even a thing! Fast forward nearly seven years, and Cody has etched another major accomplishment into his career: King of the Ring.

Looking back at when the other 2 guys won their titles, Shamrock captured the NWA World Title at another landmark inaugural indie event, TNA’s first-ever weekly pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, by winning a 20-man Gauntlet for the Gold match. He won his King of the Ring accolade at the 1998 event by defeating The Rock in the finals.

Harley Race held the NWA World Championship a whopping 7 times! Having first captured the prestigious title in 1973 by defeating fellow legend Dory Funk Jr., Race won his King of the Ring title back in 1986 by defeating Pedro Morales and would use the gimmick of “King” Harley Race in WWF until suffering an injury in 1988, donning a royal crown and cape and would make his opponents “bow and kneel” before him after defeating them in a match.

Now, the question is for Cody Rhodes: what comes next?

With his King of the Ring win, he has a shot at reclaiming his Undisputed WWE Title as he challenges John Cena at the upcoming SummerSlam show, but will he recapture the title, or will we see a heel Cena cheat again to retain in a similar way he won the belt at WrestleMania?

Share your thoughts below on what you think will happen at SummerSlam.