When Cody Rhodes and John Cena shared the stage on the first episode of RAW of the month of March, it felt special.
Sure, Cena isn't the same wrestler he once was, and he technically isn't even an active wrestler at this point, as he only wrestled one match in 2022, but watching the man who all but defined the last era of WWE television standing with the man who is looking to define this era by defeating Roman Reigns and ending his reign of terror once and for all had a certain kind of gravitas that doesn't come by the WWE Universe all that often, especially when the duo shared some words off microphone.
Needless to say, more than a few fans wondered what Rhodes and Cena had to say, and fortunately, the former decided to spill the beans and explain what went down between himself and the eventual Hall of Famer in an interview with Stadium Astro.
“So actually, that was something he told me in the car when I was driving him around in 2008-2009,” Rhodes said via Fightfu. “What he said to me on Raw was — I was telling him if he ever does another match, I would like [to work with him], and I think you could hear him pretty well. He says, ‘I can’t promise that.’ I also didn’t want to make it about myself at that moment, so I just endlessly thanked him, and then he was at the Nightmare Factory a week later talking to our students.”
Referencing the phrase “reward their noise,” Rhodes noted just how hard Cena worked not just on “Premium Live Events” but also at TV tapings and even house shows and how these efforts helped him to become one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time.
“That was something in the car that it's not just his axiom, it was a genuine way he approached live events, and shows was rewarding their noise,” Rhodes said. “A simpler way to look at that is kids come to a show, and they see their guy hurt, and they see their guy down, and they start clapping, they want something from him. He was a big proponent and always doing something so that they know if they do something, he'll be up for them or he'll at least try. I think looking at the flow of a live event, looking at the flow of a premium live event, there is something huge to that. Because we can't just do these matches in the ring, bell-to-bell, for each other. We're doing them for this audience sitting there in the building that night, as well as worldwide on television. You have to try and step into their shoes. You're so focused on what you're doing, sure, but you have to step in their shoes and [think] what do they want, and can I give it to them? Or is it my job to take it away from them? That was just something that always sat with me and, when in practice, always worked.”
Will Rhodes ever get his match with “The Champ?” It's impossible to know, but needless to say, if he continues to put in the work and build on the foundation he's set since returning to the WWE, there's little reason to believe he couldn't hold a similar stature to another Superstar at some point down the line.
Cody Rhodes wants to be a fighting champion with WWE's top belt.
Elsewhere in his interview with Stadium Astro, Rhodes was asked about his goal of winning “the big one” in WWE and let it be known that he's not only ready for that honor but wants to honor the legacies of previous title-holders and become a fighting champion.
“It would mean vindication,” Rhodes said via TJR. “I've made a great career out of proving people wrong, and I've taken the attitude as of now about proving people right, especially this new audience with WWE that has really warmly welcomed me back. A whole new audience that kind of pairs well with the independent audience I was able to bring over and hopefully bring as many folks as I could. They pair so well together. It's vindication for both those who are just in it now; this is their first ride with ‘The American Nightmare.' They like what they're seeing. Then, it's vindication for those who have been there every step of the way.
“Like the song Kingdom says, ‘I'll follow you till the end.' When is the end? Is the end when I win the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship, or is the end when I win that title and then take it every single place I can possibly take it and excel and deliver on a level that no champion has done in years? I want to cut a schedule like Bret Hart, like Ric Flair. I want to do something very different than modern champions have done, where there's a bit of a ‘less is more' schedule. I want a ‘more is more' schedule. It would mean vindication for me, for sure.”
Would it be cool to see Rhodes bring the open challenge concept he mastered in AEW over to WWE as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, or even as just the regular old WWE Champion, should the brand successfully split the straps up following Roman's reign? Most definitely. Will Paul “Triple H” Levesque allow that to happen? That, my friends, is a completely different question entirely.
Follow Us
Subscribe