Cody Rhodes Reveals How Getting Fired Changed His Life

Cody Rhodes has revealed how being fired changed his approach to life thanks to his mother.

Cody Rhodes made his own decision to leave WWE in 2016, growing tired of hitting his head against the glass ceiling as he was forced to portray Stardust.

Rhodes made a name for himself on the independent scene and joined up with Bullet Club in New Japan Pro Wrestling, casting the die that changed the wrestling world forever. Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and Adam Page were the cornerstones of The Elite that formed AEW with Tony Khan in early 2019.

Cody Rhodes broke ranks in 2022 to leave AEW before he soon returned to WWE. Since then, he’s headlined three WrestleManias in a row and captured the WWE Championship to finish his story.

Cody Rhodes Blasted As A “Lazy Piece Of Sh*t”

But it could have been a very different story if his mother hadn’t made her feelings clear after he lost his first job.

Speaking to Natalya on What Do You Wanna Talk About? Cody Rhodes revealed that it was a firing during his teenage years that shaped his work ethic, as he was on the receiving end of some harsh words from his own mother:

I lost my first job at Einstein’s Bagels because you’re a teenager and you lose jobs. You’re irresponsible, and you’re a teenager. And it’s the only time, and god bless Shelly Rubio, but she called me a lazy piece of sh*t. She’d never talked to me that way.

I’ve never been talked to since that way from her because I realised that that’s something that matters to her: my son is working. Word hard. He can’t be my son if he’s not going to show up on time. She went back to being a nurse when we were in high school and it really wasn’t for the money or I don’t know but yeah, the work ethic comes from her.

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