Corey Graves Compares Cody Rhodes Losing Against Roman Reigns To Dusty Rhodes
Corey Graves has backed the decision that saw Roman Reigns defeat Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 39.
‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes was the red-hot favorite with fans to end Roman’s rein as the Undisputed Universal WWE Champion at WrestleMania 39 on night two in Hollywood.
But whilst fans went home happy after seeing The Bloodline lose Tag Team Championships on night one, interference from Solo Sikola led to Reigns retaining to a chorus of boos.
Corey Graves was on Raw commentary for the night after WrestleMania and witnessed firsthand as Rhodes faced further heartbreak, as not only was his challenge for a rematch rejected but he was viciously attacked by Brock Lesnar.
Ending Raw after WrestleMania with the babyface laid out underneath The Beast has seen fans, wrestling journalists and legends criticising WWE for not providing a happy end in Hollywood, as bosses ripped up Rhodes’ dream of adding WWE’s main Championships to his family’s legacy.
During the latest episode of After The Bell, Graves admitted he understood the backlash, but that WWE are storytellers and that the journey is not over for the hero in this story.
Comparing the loss to those of Cody’s father Dusty Rhodes, Graves explained how this leads to fans connecting emotionally and wanting to “live vicariously” through Cody Rhodes’ battle.
“Dusty became the common man because Dusty constantly came up short, usually due to no fault of his own. But people connected with that, people understand that. People live vicariously through WWE superstars, and there were a million people around the world in Cody’s boots with him.”
“Whatever you take away from it, that’s fine. You’re not wrong,”
“If you made a YouTube video cussing and swearing about how you’re done, you don’t like WWE anymore, good. Good, because you feel that emotion.”
Graves referenced his own desire to step back into a WWE ring whilst on commentary at WrestleMania 39 as Pat McAfee made a surprise appearance to take on The Miz.
Suffering a career-ending concussion during his days in NXT, Graves has forged a successful career commentating for WWE since 2016.
The former NXT Tag Team Champion married Carmella in 2022, and has teased returning to action to team up with his wife.
Graves wanted to give fans hope in their desire to see Cody Rhodes become WWE Champion, telling listeners: “Just wait because it’s going to get better.”
H/t to WrestlingInc