Cody Rhodes is a wrestler who is driven by passion, not cold calculation.

When a fan suggested that an indie show couldn't do 10,000 tickets sold on Twitter, Rhodes took that as a personal challenge and helped to put together All In, the show that eventually launched AEW and effectively flipped the professional wrestling world on its head. When fans suggested that Rhodes couldn't make it in WWE, having to make his own company because he couldn't hang in “the big league,” he returned to the brand where he got his start and pushed for the top belt available. Heck, Rhodes, even wrestled with a torn pec despite plenty of people telling him that probably wasn't the best idea, with the match in question, at Hell in a Cell 2022, becoming one of his signature wrestling moments to date.

Sitting down for an interview with ComicBook Nation, Rhodes discussed how, during the lead-up to WrestleMania 39, Paul Heyman's near-weekly promos helped to light a fire inside him that ultimately drove him to the main event of “The Showcase of the Immortals.”

“I almost think Mr. Heyman, I don't know if it's poking the bear, or if he likes living on the wild side, because he's one of the smartest, most important, influential figures in the history of the sport, but he's fully aware that I'm an incredibly reactionary person,” Rhodes said via Fightful. “I react differently. Five or seven years ago, if you sent me a tweet about how I couldn't do something, I might react immediately and then try and go out and do it. That happened quite a bit. Today, it's a little more cerebral in how I react to certain things. Reacting to losing at WrestleMania, here we are, the most profitable WrestleMania of all time, the most important show ever involved, this collective thing that fans love, and to be able to main event. So many people looked at it and tried to sell me that that was a win in itself, and it's not how I feel. A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. I haven't gone on TV talking about the nature of how I lost because I think it's whining, and I think everybody saw it. We saw it, we lived it, we breathed it. I think Mr. Heyman lives on the wild side in a sense when you hear things like ‘earn it,' ‘hasn't had enough adversity,' I can't wait until my documentary comes out. It's very ironic in terms of juxtaposing the documentary and the amount of adversity in it, some people may not know about, particularly getting back to WWE, and Mr. Heyman's comments.”

Has Rhodes been through adversity throughout his career? Yes; as Dax Harwood pointed out on his now-defunct FTR Podcast, all one has to do is look up “Stardust” to see just how brutal some parts of Rhodes' career have been. Still, it's nice that Rhodes has been afforded a chance to simply wrestle for the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship, right? No need to worry about SmackDown‘s number-one pick when you have a belt of your own. Well, in the opinion of Rhodes, that isn't necessarily the case. Why? Because his WWE goal remains the same.

For Cody Rhodes, the goal remains the same in WWE.

Elsewhere in his interview with ComicBook Nation, Cody Rhodes asserted that, while he has more pressing goals like wrestling Brock Lesnar at Backlash or Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, the number one match he has at the top of his wish list is another shot at the WWE Universal Championship.

“The goal is the same, is the best way to put it. The goal is the same for me as a sports entertainer, as a wrestler, I came here wanting one thing,” Rhodes said. “It doesn't mean other stories won't happen that will also be finished and it doesn't mean there aren't other milestones, we're talking about good things like video game covers, but the important thing to me is still the championship on Roman's shoulders and it's the biggest match that WWE could do, but it would take a great deal of mountains to be moved for that rematch to even happen. The goal is the same for me, I just have to see it through and do the work.”

Would it be cool to see Rhodes take another shot at the Universal Championship? You bet; between Survivor Series, Money in the Bank, and the 2024 Royal Rumble, Rhodes will have opportunities to take a shot at Reigns' title if he can win a match that affords him the chance. Whether or not that happens, however, firmly depends on how Paul “Triple H” Levesque thinks his “American Nightmare” should earn his next opportunity.