Fans Will Revolt If Sami Zayn Loses to Cody Rhodes in WWE Title Re-Match on Raw

WWE is playing with near-historical fire right now when it comes to the Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes situation. 

When Zayn pulled off the upset title win over Rhodes at Night of Champions, it felt like a watershed moment for pro wrestling. Here was Zayn, doing it his way en route to finally winning the big one, while WWE seemed to be admitting that the recent Rhodes era was symbolic of repeated missteps in booking decisions. 

Whoops. 

WWE's now in a Kofi Kingston-like danger zone. 

Instead, here comes Rhodes again, immediately challenging for Zayn's title. Wrestling fans can be 1,000 percent forgiven for getting an odd sense of deja vu. After all, before this year's WrestleMania, Rhodes dropped the title to Drew McIntyre in a similar heartfelt moment, only to unceremoniously rip it back off him so he could run to 'Mania and have a main event ruined by Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll, among other problems. 

Doing something similar to Zayn in a matter of days would be even more catastrophic. 

WWE appears, at least, to be flirting with the idea of giving Zayn all of 10ish days as champion before taking the belt back off him. It's at risk of making his win hardly anything more than a cheap pop in Saudi Arabia, a bit of a pat on the head before sending him back to the mid-card. 

Again, one name comes to mind: Kofi Kingston. 

Fans know the drill with Kingston. Amazing title win. Much-deserved, etc. The situation could go for thousands of words. Brock Lesnar ripped the title off him in a squash before Kingston was very clearly told to never so much as reference the solo run again. Pathetic on the part of WWE and all involved. 

That mark on Kingston's career never really left. It didn't harm Lesnar, because apparently nothing can. But fan distaste for what happened to Kingston never really faded, nor could they ignore what it said about his character for the remainder of his time with the promotion. 

The Zayn situation arrives at an even more pivotal point for WWE. The background context is key. Fans are having a really, really hard time trusting the promotion right now. There's years of obvious background meddling by outside forces since the TKO merger. Fans shudder at the thought of names like Travis Scott. McAfee. The guy named after a pastry. 

We're talking about historical fumbles. This is a company that managed to botch John Cena's heel turn before a lukewarm retirement tour. It fumbled how to properly build a Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton main event at WrestleMania so laughably bad that a WWE video game simulation would have done a better job. 

What does it say about WWE's booking and how fans should trust the powers behind the moves if Rhodes takes the title right back off Zayn so that he can have a belt around his waist going into SummerSlam?

What does it say about Rhodes, whose Cena-like runs will give little nods to deserving guys before deeming them unworthy to hold top spots on the biggest shows? And what does it say for fan trust that WWE can actually book someone like Oba Femi properly, considering his current run is already on shaky ground with the surprise Lesnar un-retirement thing?

This isn't just about Rhodes' immediate challenge against Zayn, either. That's a minor barricade on the path. WWE could choose to slam into it at 100 miles per hour, sure. But a nice nod to fans and the entire locker room, really, would be making sure Zayn walks into SummerSlam with a title. 

It's not that much to ask. This is a company that has messed around with extensive title runs for the likes of Jinder Mahal. Surely it can resist giving Zayn the Kingston treatment so that Rhodes can once again remain stuck in the same Cena-lite loop that will undoubtedly get some sort of TKO meddling as a spoiled cherry on top. 

A fan revolt sounds dramatic. But in pro wrestling terms, that means disinterest. WWE can't afford that right now. The solution is simple: Ride the good decisions, stop lagging to fix the problems. 

Written another way: Keep Zayn at the top for a while, and Rhodes well out of the main-event scene for a much-needed break from overexposure.