Long Rhode Home

Six years after leaving the company, Cody Rhodes is back in WWE. The former AEW executive vice president made his return to WWE during night one of WrestleMania 38, where he defeated Seth Rollins. Now what?

KRASH: What do you want to change now you’re back in WWE?
Cody: I want to present myself without fear because when I was here before I was a kid. I was scared. If you do something that’s not what your producer wanted, well they’re going to come back and they’re going to yell at you because the alternative is you go out there and blow it because you’re trying to play it safe, which happened to me so much. Now I would rather live and die by what I do. I have to do me.

KRASH: There’s a lot of history with your Dad, Dusty Rhodes (who died in 2015) ,being in WWE.
Cody: There’s a lot of history with my family. I’m the meanest of all of the Rhodes guys. I’m still like an angry little kid sometimes. And Dusty? He was so dynamic but Dusty worked for Vince Snr. I don’t think I want a management job in wrestling ever again. I don’t think I was mature enough for it. And if I never walk into the WWE Performance Center I’d be happy because it’s a little too hard for me. That’s where his (Dusty’s) office was and his boots are there. And, also, when I graduated my dad told me to never go back. Because you can learn wrestling moves all day long at a wrestling school but the only way you really get the flow and the connections is working in front of crowds. I’m a wrestler – a WWE Superstar – and that’s probably what’s best for me.

KRASH: And we hear there’s a documentary about your Dad in the works?
Cody: Yes, I’m the executive producer on it. It will have interviews with some of the historic figures that surrounded my father. It’s covering a lot – the real story on what he did with WWF and what he would ultimately do with NXT. All four of the kids are in it and that’s very rare that we ever get together to do anything. So I’m very much looking forward to that.

KRASH: How did it feel facing Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38?
Cody: Seth was part of this crop of guys and girls who were Dusty’s kids from NXT. I hated all of Dusty’s kids and that was unfair. It was jealousy. Seth absolutely moved ahead of me – way up the card. He did such a marvellous job to get there at WrestleMania 38 and then for me to be able to be there and take him by surprise – I feel like it couldn’t have been anybody else. What better revenge is there than success?

KRASH: You got such a big pop from the crowd…?
Cody: I think it’s just a lesson in not letting your place on the card define you. We didn’t need to catch anyone up – they knew right away when they heard ‘Wrestling is more than one royal family…’.

KRASH: So what’s next?
Cody: Well I was told that Randy is a family man now and doesn’t get in trouble and I won’t have it because Randy freaking out was a big part of my life. I’m going to try and stir him up as much as possible. I really can’t wait to get back in the ring with him!