Cody Rhodes Working Towards “Once In A Lifetime” Pop
Cody Rhodes has one goal he’s building towards.
Cody Rhodes has had a mixed 2023 in WWE but was left standing following his brawl with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Speaking to Fightful, Cody Rhodes discussed the reactions he received in AEW as well as the ones greeting him now in WWE and says he enjoys what he receives now so much more:
“In both places, the reactions were wild. Arthur Ashe Stadium, I remember, in a way you think, ‘this is the coolest thing ever.’ There is this narrative that people want to push that we ‘weren’t trying for that.’ No, we were absolutely trying for that. It was happening and it was fun. I enjoyed it, not to the degree that I enjoy this, because this is times 100.
“No matter what times in the night when it happens, there is something special when it happens here. I don’t have one that I favor. The thing I favor is still being built, it’s still happening. The ultimate reaction, the ultimate pop, it doesn’t come every night, it comes maybe once. Once in a career, once in a lifetime. That’s what I’m trying to build to.”
“In my former gig, I barely believed in injuries” – Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes then discussed if he thought his reactions from the crowd would start to dwindle after he lost the WrestleMania 39 main event, which many expected him to win, against Roman Reigns:
“You always feel a sense of responsibility, but you don’t want to be carny where you’re trying to work them. Working them, you can, but what’s best is to work with the audience. You’re never trying to hoodwink people into believing you’re a bad guy or believing you’re a good guy. That’s like running a political campaign. Just saying it sounds slimy.
“For me, I just had a lot of confidence. Ego was full, confidence was at an all time high that, I am better than everybody here, and I’m going to bring that in the most positive way I can here and deliver on Monday nights, every week, and hopefully deliver on the big PLEs as often as they come. I had a lot of confidence. The only time my confidence was really rattled was when I tore my pec. I don’t like inconsistency. In my former gig, I barely believed in injuries.
“You have to believe in them, but you have to have that toil mindset of ‘tape it up and go to the ring.’ I know that’s not the proper mindset, I would not encourage anyone other than me. When that happened, I felt, maybe I’m one of those guys. One of those guys who gets there and ‘maybe it can’t handle it,’ which is why it’s so important that I wrestled. I didn’t want to call out sick. Just the thought of that, my head is spinning. I had to do it.”
Fans of Cody Rhodes will already see a possible time and place for that “ultimate pop” that The American Nightmare is chasing should he be able to get back to the main event of WrestleMania in 2024 and finally be the man to dethrone Roman Reigns at the second time of asking.