Cody Rhodes Describes Having A Rare Connection To WWE Fans
Cody Rhodes has become the most popular wrestler in WWE and he was recently asked to describe what that feels like to him.
It was at WrestleMania 38 in 2022 when Cody Rhodes made a triumphant return to WWE after six years away. Ever since that night, the WWE Universe has been behind him as a guy who started his WWE run in the mid-2000s when he was in his early 20s.
After Cody’s return at WrestleMania 38, he made it clear that his goal was to “finish the story” by becoming WWE Champion, which is something his father Dusty Rhodes and brother Dustin “Goldust” Rhodes never did.
At WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, Cody Rhodes finished his story by beating Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Champion. Along the way, Cody’s popularity has grown and shows no signs of slowing down.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio with Dave LaGreca and WWE Hall of Famers Bully Ray & Mark Henry, Cody was asked what it was like to see the fans turn on The Rock because they were so invested in Cody’s story.
“I often, at the Nightmare Factory, try to explain the term ‘over’ to the students or at least my definition of it, at least how it was described to me and how I was trained. I use The Rock and I use John Cena, Roman Reigns as examples of people that have actually gotten over. They can’t leave their house without causing a scene. They move more than a thousand tickets in just a host of them being there.”
“If you look at some of these metrics, you can truly find out that person is a draw or that person is over. I’ve never considered myself anything like that. I like when people build you up and say nice things to you but I never considered myself that in an honest fashion. So for him to come back the most popular sports entertainer of all time [and] one of the most recognizable people on planet Earth and beloved worldwide. For him to come back and people make the choice to boo him and people make the choice to even chant ‘Rocky sucks’ and people wearing Rock shirts that were chanting ‘Rocky sucks.'”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever felt my place in the ring and realized, ‘Oh I might be getting close to where I wanna be.’ I might have clicked and connected with this audience that I think I’ve connected with. I might have clicked and connected with them more than I even realized. Again, you don’t just think of how great this is and how exciting and how happy this is.”
Cody Rhodes Feels Like He Owes Everything To The Wrestling Fan
As the discussion continued, Cody Rhodes spoke about his “rare connection” to wrestling fans while saying he feels grateful and lucky to be in the position he is in.
“The first thing I think of is okay, how can I pay them back? 4 am in the airport, here they are. You’re not gonna get a no from me because I feel like I owe everything to the wrestling fan.”
“You’re never gonna have me not look you in the eye. I’m never gonna not shake your hand. It’s really truly a rare connection I guess to find and it took me a really long time to find it so I’m just blessed that that happened.”
“There was a blanket text that went out when everybody was messaging me after WrestleMania 40 and I just said ‘I’m lucky.’ I’m lucky, I’m incredibly lucky and I do feel that way. Yes, Bully is right. There’s a little ego underneath it all. There’s a different feeling than just feeling lucky. But the predominant feeling is grateful and lucky.”
Next up for Cody Rhodes is an Undisputed WWE Title defense against Logan Paul at the King and Queen of the Ring PLE on Saturday, May 25th.