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When Cody Rhodes came up short versus Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39, the 80,000-plus fans at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, were at a loss for words.
Now sure, some fans were stoked on the continued dominance of the “Tribal Chief,” with more than a few shouting out “We the 1s” as they exited the home of the Chargers and Rams, but after watching the crowd erupt at defining volumes when Sami Zayn pinned Jey Uso to end The Usos' Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship reign, the feeling on the ground was much more muted, if not outright disappointed.
Discussing the reaction to his now-signature loss in an interview with Jimmy Traina on the SI Media podcast in the lead-up to the release of his American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes documentary on Peacock, Rhodes noted that he was explicitly told by WWE management not to check out the reaction online, as fans were not particularly stoked by Paul “Triple H” Levesque's booking decisions.
“I was surprised at how p*ssed people were,” Cody Rhodes said via Fightful. “A lot of managerial people in the company reached out to me, checking on me, and also reached out to me to let me know, ‘Don't go online. Don't go online.' I didn't even think to go. It's such an incredibly busy week, there are so many emotions in that experience, I have my family with me, I lost in front of them, which is another level of embarrassment. I didn't even think to go online. Just the fact that they were preparing me or battening down the hatches. ‘This is shaky, people are really frustrated,' that surprised me. That surprised me a lot.”
Did Rhodes actually heed management's suggestion and avoid seeing what fans had to say online? No, probably not; Rhodes is acutely aware of his online perception and was likely name-searching Twitter mere moments after he left the ring to see what folks were saying about his job in the ring Kendall Roy-style. Still, if WWE had to warn talent to avoid online interactions with “p*ssed” fans, maybe they didn't make the right booking decision in the first place.
Cody Rhodes reveals his relationship with The Elite in 2023.
Elsewhere on his promotional tour for American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes, this time in a special interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, the “Grandson of a Plummer” was asked about his relationship with his other founding members of AEW, the Elite, all of these years later.
In the opinion of Rhodes, their relationship remains very good, so much so that the Young Bucks actually contributed crucial Being The Elite footage to his documentary that would have made it tricky to finish otherwise.
“All the time, all the time. We have to really thank Matt and Nick too because the BTE footage that’s in this, that I think most people are going to be blown away that it’s in there, we couldn’t tell the story without them,” Rhodes said via Fightful. “They were so generous to allow us to use that. Mostly Matt and Nick talk about how we don’t think anyone remembers that we did this and did that. We kind of go back and forth on that. I think that’s our bond. Matt, Nick, and I have a great relationship, Kenny and I have a great relationship. We’re bonded forever. If we never step into another ring together, I would have their back, and I hope they have mine, and I really wish them the best in whatever they do, but again, thank you to Matt and Nick Jackson for allowing that footage which allows the real story to be told because I think I saw some people thinking this would be revised. Maybe revised to my perspective, but not the fiction, the reality. Matt and Nick are a huge part of it, Kenny as well, so I’m glad it’s in there.”
What is American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes going to feature from BTE? Is the documentary actually going to go into the Bullet Club, All In, or even the founding and early run of AEW, or will it simply discuss Rhodes' time in the minor leagues, with Nick and Matt referred to as nothing more than his “indie friends” from his time away from the “Big Show?” I guess fans will have to see what happens when the documentary hit Peacock next week, which, in a way, is a really good promotional job by Rhodes, as at least one fan is now very interested in the outcome.
