Cody Rhodes has been a professional wrestler since all the way back in 2006, when he made his debut in a ten-man tag team match for then-WWE developmental territory OVW, and yet, despite having wrestled almost 2,000 matches over 65 different promotions, he's never taken part in a WarGames match or, as it's known in AEW, Blood and Guts.

From injuries, to outside commitments, to the limitations of almost every indie fed to set up two rings and a massive cage on top, it just felt like the timing was never right to get Rhodes inside the match his father, Dusty Rhodes, originated… until now, when Adam Pearce named the “American Nightmare” a member of a WarGames team at Survivor Series.

Discussing the decision to finally make his debut in one of the most unique match formats of all time in an appearance on Gabby AF, Rhodes gave props to Pearce for putting him in the match before reflecting on the importance of following in his father's legacy.

“Give him his props. You mentioned Adam Pearce. Adam Pearce is outstanding as the General Manager of Monday Night Raw, and I feel Nick Aldis on SmackDown will also excel in that role. I told Adam, when I saw him on the mic, that was powerful. He had to follow Regal's footsteps in announcing WarGames,” Cody Rhodes told Gabby AF via Fightful.

“It's my first real WarGames, but I've had a million WarGames matches in my head, in the car, when we were going over teams, who would be on my team. There was a moment after he said the words when we were all looking tough and mean-mugging and staring at each other, half blown-up, and I couldn't help but smile. I really couldn't. This run from WrestleMania, when I came back in Dallas, to right now, through WrestleMania 39 in Hollywood to right now, has been just, I don't know the word to describe it. But I don't even want to say the word because I don't want to jinx it. I don't want it to end. Every week is more signs in the crowd, more noise, more this, more that.”

Would it have been cool to see Rhodes work alongside the rest of The Elite in the first-ever Blood and Guts match? Sure thing, that match is one of the great “what ifs” of early AEW and will likely never happen for obvious reasons. Still, after over three years of waiting, Rhodes will get to mix it up in a pair of rings like the “American Dream” before him, and he isn't taking that opportunity for granted.

Cody Rhodes isn't taking his WarGames match for granted.

Continuing his admiration for WarGames and everything his father has introduced to the professional wrestling world, Cody Rhodes complimented Paul “Triple H” Levesque for bringing back the format and helping to take the concept into the future.

“I grew up wanting that, and going into the WarGames, I'm such an old-school fan of it. My dad drew it on a cocktail napkin, and then they gave it to the guy,” Cody Rhodes noted. “It really all stemmed from the fact that they wanted to lower the cage because they were tired of waiting 30 minutes at these house shows for the local crew to set the cage up, and then it even sure if they got it right. But WarGames happens. I have to look at some of the modern WarGames as well because Triple H brought WarGames back and took it from Dusty, and he put his own spin on it, without the roof, and with the cages on the outside for the teams. He put his own spin on it, so I don't want to be the guy who's going in with all the old school, ‘We're going to run the ball right up the middle,' when it's actually a passing and a play-action type game. I'm gonna look at both because it's fun that it's a combination of what Dusty created, what him and the Four Horsemen made iconic, but also what Triple H turned and tweaked to keep it in the modern wrestling canon.”

After bringing back WarGames in NXT, Levesque took a risk introducing the format to WWE for the first time ever in 2o22 at Survivor Series with a men's and women's match in Boston, Massachusetts. While those matches were ultimately a success, running it back once more but with Rhodes leading one of the teams has the potential to be a signature moment both for Levesque as a booker and also for the “American Nightmare as a sports entertainer.