WWE news: Cody Rhodes pays tribute to Hulk Hogan on SmackDown

Though WWE committed the opening on Friday Night SmackDown to an expansive tribute to the late Hulk Hogan, from a 10 bell salute to a near-seven-minute long video package highlighting his entire career, Cody Rhodes wanted to spend a little extra time focusing on the “Hulkster” before getting down to business.

Taking the ring to talk SummerSlam, his feud with John Cena, and everything else along the way, Rhodes dedicated some time to Hogan, thanking him for his contributions to sports entertainment, wrestling, and entertainment as well.

“Yesterday, WWE and pro-wrestling lost one of its giants in Hulk Hogan, and I know emotions and feelings regarding it are complicated, but what is not complicated is his accomplishments and his contributions to WWE to sports entertainment, to pro wrestling, to entertainment as a whole,e they are staggering and they are indisputable,” Rhodes declared. “So, as someone who gets to stand here and say that I'm a WWE Superstar, he was the original, and I just want to take a moment to say thank you, Hulk Hogan.”

Did Rhodes and Hogan ever share the ring? Nope, but Hogan did wrestle his Cody's father Dusty a number of times back in the day, including eight matches in New Japan Pro Wrestling – if you can believe it – a Royal Rumble in WWE, and one final time on an episode of WCW Thunder in 2000, according to Cagematch.

Despite being from very different generations, the way Rhodes and Hogan present themselves to the WWE Universe is remarkably similar, with the “American Nightmare” taking more than a few cues from the “HulkaManic” in his red, white, and blue babyface presentation post-AEW. While Rhodes' time as a babyface may rapidly be coming to a close, with Cena's redemption coming at some point, maybe as soon as SummerSlam, when that day comes, he will almost certainly take cues from Hogan there too, using the “Hollywood Hogan” character as a template from which to tell his own story.