Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes come face-to-face and all that happened on SmackDown

Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes came face-to-face ahead of their main event showdown at WrestleMania 39.

The undisputed universal champion Reigns wll put his title on the line against Royal Rumble winner Rhodes.

Rhodes made no secret of his intention to put Reigns down, vowing to defy expectations at WrestleMania.

Reigns and Rhodes got personal in their confrontation, after the Tribal chief evoked the name of Rhodes’ late father Dusty Rhodes.

Reigns is currently looking ahead to WrestleMania but is still dealing with the aftermath of Elimination Chamber, following Sami Zayn’s betrayal and the continued absence of a key member of The Bloodline - Jey Uso. 

Here’s all that happened on this week’s episode of SmackDown

The Bloodline made their entrance to kick off SmackDown, still without Jey Uso.

The head of the table Reigns charged up fans as usual via trademark "acknowledge me" line.

However, he was soon after interrupted by Cody Rhodes as "The American Nightmare" invited Reigns to send away Jimmy Uso, Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa so that they could speak privately. 

Rhodes proclaimed that he has made a career of defying expectations and that WrestleMania 39 will be no different.

Reigns then trolled Rhodes for never headlining a main event at WrestleMania, let alone competing for a WWE or universal championship.

 The undisputed champion then spoke fondly of Rhodes' late father, Dusty Rhodes. Reigns explained how Dusty Rhodes often told Reigns that he was the future of the business, yet noted that Dusty Rhodes never once mentioned his son.

 The segment closed with a fiery Rhodes promising to defeat Reigns before shaking hands with his WrestleMania opponent.

Meanwhile, backstage, Reigns inquired about Jey Uso's whereabouts from his brother Jimmy Uso.

Jimmy said he spoke with Jey Uso and that his twin brother only needs time.

 Reigns asked how much time Jey Uso needed. Jimmy responded that his brother was doing better day by day. Reigns then warned that he was running out of patience with Jimmy.

A Twitter video from Sami Zayn posted earlier in the day flanked by WWE fans soon emerged with Zayn boasting that Reigns was feeling the heat, and also aware that The Bloodline was crumbling.

 Zayn assured that he would not go away until The Bloodline was gone for good, before Reigns instructed Jimmy Uso to take care of Zayn once and for all.