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Cody Rhodes is the WWE's ultimate showman.
With WrestleMania 39 officially three weeks away, Cody Rhodes' one-man mission to unseat Roman Reigns as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion has been heating up, with the Royal Rumble winner appearing on SmackDown with increasing frequency in an attempt to really drum up excitement for the “Premium Live Event,” and has used his free time to promote the event wherever someone affords him a microphone and a few minutes to discuss his match.
But why? Why is Rhodes taking up so much of his time on a promotional tour that has dated back to January, when Sami Zayn could have theoretically defeated Reigns at the Elimination Chamber and made a month of interviews invalid? Well, because in Rhodes' opinion, this match is quite literally the most important of his professional wrestling career and he knows he has to deliver in order to make all of the hype heading into the match worth it, as he detailed to Kevin Kellam on WrestleBinge.
“I will say that it’s been very… the graphic, the poster came out WrestleMania the other day, and the amount of text I got from people in the industry that I worked with a ton of times,” Rhodes said via Wrestling Headlines. “But also the people I worked with just maybe one time, the amount of love that was given was really… obviously, I’m a sentimental guy, is very touching, but also really put a level of responsibility on me.
“It’s great to hear someone say, ‘He’s the right guy to face the guy,’ but, for me personally, I have to go out and execute. I have to go out and deliver. It can’t just be a pipe dream. It can’t just be hope. It has to be hope and execution, and that’s where I’m at. So I’ve tried not to get too high on the love that I’m getting from my peers in the business or get too down on any criticism that I might be getting as well just because none of it matters unless you go out there and execute and give them something to really just love and cherish. WrestleMania being the biggest thing we do, that’s what I aim to do.”
Can Rhodes remain over in WWE if he loses to Reigns? Sure, Zayn remains incredibly over despite losing to Reigns in Montreal and things are shaping up for Drew McIntyre to unseat GUNTHER for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 39, too. But after watching Reigns run through every opponent for darn near 1,000 days, if Cody isn't the man to secure the win then frankly, who is? Needless to say, the time for talking is almost over.
Cody Rhodes had a very interesting AEW Revolution viewing experience.
When Rhodes isn't getting ready for WrestleMania 39 either in the ring or in interviews, he's apparently spending his time watching wrestling, including his former promotion, AEW, and their most recent Pay-Per-View, Revolution. Only, here's the thing, Rhodes didn't actually pay to view the show, as he decided to watch the show on a pirated feed, as he explained on the Good Karma Wrestling podcast.
“I only saw some highlights from Ricky, I had a pirated feed, which I probably should have just figured out how to get the right feed,” Rhodes said. “Not going to tell you who sent me that. I thought Ricky did great, really proud of him. Chris Jericho is an absolute legend, he's more than a legend, he's Chris Jericho. For Ricky to be able to deal with that and handle that in the way he did, very proud of Ricky.” Rhodes then used that point to pivot to who else in AEW he was particularly proud of.
“Very proud of Julia [Hart], proud of Malakai [Black] actually because he was somebody that I loved our interactions with and I wanted to see more of that Malakai and it's been a minute,” he added. “And then all my other kids, I'm not going to name them because I'm not going to put him over. All my other kids, one of them was out there in the main event, we don't have to be best friends or anything but just very proud of their growth and their continued growth.”
Is it objectively funny that Rhodes didn't pay to watch Revolution despite being a rich professional wrestler who literally worked for the promotion for the majority of its history? Yes, but hey, it's nice to know he's at least still showing support for wrestlers like Malakai Black, Ricky Starks, and Julia Hart, who all worked with him before, even if he didn't directly comment on the five-plus star performances of either The Elite or MJF, whom he was good friends with at the beginning of his AEW run.
