The second the referee hit the mat 1-2-3 and Roman Reigns' song “Head of the Table” hit the PA at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, it effectively marked the start of Cody Rhodes‘ next Road to WrestleMania – a trip 364 days in the making.
But what, you may ask, can a performer do to remain on that mission, keep improving, and maintain his spot as a top contender without being booked for a title match on a “lesser” Premium Live Event like Money in the Bank, Crown Jewel, or even SummerSlam? Well, in Rhodes' case, he's taken a page from his favorite video game series, The Legend of Zelda, and become a master of the sidequest.
A trilogy of matches with Brock Lesnar? Done. A run at the Undisputed Tag Team Championship? Double done. Heck, Rhodes has found a way to parlay his current feud with Judgment Day into a WarGames match at Survivor Series – an outcome that is as exciting as it is predictable. And yet, in a conversation with Busted Open Radio, Rhodes made it apparent that, despite all of the fun he's had along the way, his eyes have never left the proverbial prize: Roman Reigns' WWE Championship.
“I'm being honest in a sense that, I don't know how to feel about WrestleMania 39 until I get to where I'd like to get. It's a long road to get back,” Cody Rhodes said via Fightful. “It's a long road. You can catch me under my breath when I'm in the ring on RAW or at SummerSlam, I've been saying, ‘We're on our way, we're on our way.' I even went as far as to say, when people might think it's someone else, ‘It's always been me.' The truth is, those are just words. WrestleMania season, Royal Rumble season, WarGames ahead of us, that could be the hard times right there. That could be the most arduous path I've been on. I've focused on it show to show and the Cena [John Cena] model of ‘Are we improving every outing, are they more into it every outing?' That's been my goal.”
In professional wrestling, the only real constant is change. Performers come, performers go, and no one can really predict who will be where on the card a year into the future due to injuries, illnesses, and the ever-changing hype cycle. Still, for Rhodes, he returned to WWE for one reason above all others, and until he's announced as the new WWE Champion, his story will never be truly finished.
Cody Rhodes acknowledges the differences between his WWE runs.
Elsewhere in his appearance on Busted Open Radio, Cody Rhodes discussed how he felt about the return of WWE versus his OG efforts as a member of Vince McMahon's Universe last decade.
While Rhodes has long admitted that he was burned out at the end of his initial WWE run, in this particular interview, the “American Nightmare” revealed the relentless anger that he felt bleed into his work in NJPW, Ring of Honor, AEW, and beyond.
“I always tell people that I'm a slow learner. It took me a while to get to the spot I wanted to be [in]. But when I think of a new match, when somebody says ‘Cody vs. somebody' — even if we had done that match eight years ago, ten years ago — it doesn't read the same way at all. It reads brand new because I had found my footing … but I'll say there was a period of time, and maybe it wasn't in WWE … where I really feel I lost my compass,” Cody Rhodes said via 411 Mania.
“I was arrogant, and I was grizzled. You know how guys get grizzled long before they should get grizzled? I was all those things, and I was really angry. And a lot of that work is evident when you look at what I did with New Japan and Ring of Honor, and AEW. There was like an anger to me that … I'm motivated differently now … maybe having a daughter probably changed it. But, you know, it's different, and it's a bit better for me as motivation. It's been more positive.”
While Rhodes took pretty much every shot he could at WWE during his time away, famously demolishing a Triple H-style throne before his match against his brother Dustin at Double Or Nothing 2019, and even being “exorcised” of his Fed-yness on an episode of Being The Elite, in the end, it never quite felt right to see the “American Nightmare” wrestling anywhere but where it all began. Fortunately, Rhodes is actually enjoying this run, which makes it all the better.
Follow Us
Subscribe
