When Cody Rhodes was booked for a match with LA Knight on RAW as a sort of tune-up ahead of WrestleMania 39, fans knew they were in for a treat, but goodness gracious, who could have expected what was about to come?
Working a very fun match against the Los Angeles-based Superstar who somehow doesn't have a match booked for the Hollywood-based WrestleMania, Rhodes found a way to get it done in the first matchup of the duo's respective careers with a combination Cody Cutter into a Cross Rhodes, and then requested a mic to keep the hype train rolling with a very special message for Roman Reigns.
“I keep hearing these warnings from Mr. Heyman that I should stay out of Bloodline business, well, I reiterate, I do not work for The Bloodline, and I don’t work for Mr. Heyman, so if I want to come out here and stand side by side with Sami Zayn, I can do that, “Rhodes said. “If I want to come out here and fight alongside Kevin Owens, I can do that. And I also hear Mr. Heyman say don’t make this personal. Don’t make it personal? What a joke; it has been personal since I first appeared on this show at 21 years old in front of these same cameramen. It’s personal when week after week I’m choked up fighting back tears with every sentence. It’s personal when you wear a protective coach of armor and I’m not talking about my robe, I’m talking about my tailored suit and the reason I wear it is not because I think I am somebody, it’s because I wanna be somebody.
“Mr. Heyman talking about acknowledging Roman Reigns? I acknowledge you, d*mnit. You need to acknowledge me. I am not perfect, but my time since I came back to the WWE Universe has been perfect, I am undefeated. I grew up thinking that I was a prince in this industry. But I’ve got no crown, no chip, no Master Sword, no Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. And on April 2nd, when the sun goes down on Hollywood, it is going down on Roman Reigns’ generational run. On April 2nd, it is not just those who’ve got the Rhodes and the Runnels blood pumping through their veins, it’s every single person who has followed me until the end. On April 2nd, I have waited my entire life, I will wait no more. On April 2nd, Roman Reigns, I pin you, I stick you in this ring, and become the first Rhodes to ever say he is the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.”
Goodness, Rhodes really wants to get this match over, and gosh darn it, he has. On Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, Rhodes will have something like 70,000 fans cheering him on against “The Head of the Table,” and if he wins it all, the pop will be an all-timer.
Cody Rhodes keeps an eye on these two former Nightmare Factory students.
While Rhodes is clearly all-in on WWE at the moment, and has a good a chance to unseat Reigns' title reign as any other wrestler in WWE over the past three years, the owner of The Nightmare Factory still keeps up with his former students, including a pair who currently work for AEW, Julia Hart and Lee Johnson, as he detailed on Good Karma Wrestling.
“I’m very proud of Julia (Hart) because Julia came from the Nightmare Factory camps,” Rhodes said via Wrestling Headlines. “So that’s like the question that anybody’s gonna ask, hey, how’s your school? Has anyone done anything? And we can name a few people who had experience already. But really she came from camp two, did the thing with the Varsity Blonds but she just took advantage of every opportunity she found. She was just hitting home runs and even maximizing her minutes and even small segments, big segments, whatever it might be. Just very proud.
“I keep an eye on her and Lee (Johnson) from a distance. You give to them and one thing I’ve learned as a coach and such and even my role within management, give without expecting anything back. There are people who I hired and my wife hired that don’t even remember us anymore and that’s okay. You give without expecting to get back.”
Now, as some fans already know, Lee and Hart have been dating for some time now and announced their engagement back in October of 2022. Is that why Rhodes keeps tabs on the duo? It's impossible to know, but it's safe to say the duo will be in his corner, at least in spirit, when he goes for the gold at WrestleMania 39.
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