Former WWE writer hates Rhodes' championship run with no Roman Reigns: 'They've booked Cody horribly!'

The man Cody Rhodes defeated to win the WWE Universal championship hasn't wrestled since April.

Roman Reigns will return to in-ring action this Friday, at Bad Blood, but not to get his title back. Instead, he and Rhodes are going to be tag-team partners as they both have scores to settle with Solo Sikoa and The New Bloodline. And therein lies the problem, according to former WWE head writer Vince Russo. It's been six months since Rhodes has held the championship and he has yet to have a worthy adversary cross his path.

Reigns took a few months off after one of the longest title reigns in WWE history, over 1,300 days on top. But according to Russo, the WWE fumbled the bag not having worthy heels lined up to step into the spotlight while he was gone. Sikoa's storyline as the new Tribal Chief works as a foil for Reigns because no one respects him as a single's wrestler. But it doesn't work for Rhodes all that well.

The WWE world has been waiting for either Randy Orton or Kevin Owens to turn heel, but up until Bad Blood Eve, it hasn't happened yet. It's left things feeling a little empty for Rhodes' run.

Here's a list of wrestler's Rhodes has defeated since winning the belt.

• Dominik Mysterio
• Shinsuke Nakamura
• Carmelo Hayes
• AJ Styles
• Logan Paul
• Sikoa
• Santos Escobar
• Owens
• Austin Theory