Cody Rhodes Reclaims WWE Championship Belt From Pat McAfee

Published: Apr 15, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor | Last Updated: Apr 15, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor

Sanchez has over six years of pro-wrestling news writing experience, covering the biggest news stories in WWE, NXT, AEW, TNA Wrestling and more. He has personally interviewed a number of top stars, producing exclusive content with the likes of AEW's Swerve Strickland and WWE's Nick Aldis.

Cody Rhodes Reclaims WWE Championship Belt From Pat McAfee

Pat McAfee has shared footage of Cody Rhodes trashing the Pat McAfee Show studio and reclaiming his WWE Championship belt.

Ahead of Randy Orton challenging for the Undisputed WWE Title at WrestleMania 42, Orton and McAfee attacked Rhodes once again on the April 10 SmackDown episode.

With this beatdown ending with McAfee leaving the arena with the WWE Championship belt, the actual champion has now reclaimed his gold, doing some damage in the process.

The April 15 edition of the Pat McAfee Show opened with McAfee sharing footage of Cody Rhodes entering the studio earlier in the day.

In the “security footage”, which you can watch at this link, the janitor let Cody Rhodes into the building.

Rhodes then walked up to the stage and used a baseball bat to destroy what McAfee called a “once in a lifetime collectible” depicting McAfee and Orton together.

Cody Rhodes also threw a chair down before grabbing a laptop and the WWE Championship belt, leaving with both.

This means that Cody Rhodes will enter the Allegiant Stadium with his WWE Title belt… As long as he doesn’t lose possession of it in the T-Mobile Arena on SmackDown.

The WWE Championship will headline the April 18 WrestleMania 42 Saturday show, with the World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and Roman Reigns taking place on the April 19 WrestleMania 42 Sunday show.

With there being a lot of speculation surrounding the result of the WWE Championship match, Pat McAfee previously stating that he will never appear on wrestling TV again if Orton loses has led many to predict that The Viper will win his 15th world title on Saturday.

Cody Rhodes reclaiming his gold ahead of WrestleMania could support this title change prediction, as the story is no longer about the champion needing to be reunited with his title.

Of course, there is still a good chance that Rhodes walks out of Las Vegas with the gold, only time will tell.

A potential spoiler has emerged on this match, with an intriguing bout reportedly planned for Backlash in May.