During Saturday night’s WWE SummerSlam 2023 pay-per-view event, Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar in a singles contest.
During the post-show press conference, Cody addressed his victory over Brock, lavished praise on The Beast, and revealed what’s next for him.
You can check out some highlights from the presser below:
On the moment he had with Brock Lesnar after defeating him at SummerSlam: “That’ll be something that I look at and have a very deep, deep appreciation. I mean the guy also hocked a loogie on me in the middle of the match. He is given more German Suplexes, more F5s, F5s through tables, absolutely eviscerated me on many levels, and somehow, someway I felt like there was maybe just this bond by battle there in that final moment and I’m very grateful for what’s happened. I don’t want to wrestle Brock Lesnar again but I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do it and to compete at his level because, I’ve said this last night, when he’s gone, and I don’t know when that will be, because he can go, when he’s gone, I think the world will realize what we’ve got. It’s a friggin’ unicorn. Very unique, once in a lifetime individual and to have that moment at the end, and I know it’s a longer answer than I was supposed to give, but I thought a lot about Brock looking at him tonight, and it reminded me of how my Dad looked at Harley Race.”
On what’s next for him: “We were talking about finishing the story. Now the thing I’ve been saying to myself, saying out loud, saying while I’m laying there on the mat, is get back, I wanna get back to the situation that I was in, to the same scenario I was in, and fix that outcome. I’m not going to say specifically what that is, but I think we can all read between the lines. And the journey to get there is dang near next to impossible. It really is. Including three with Brock Lesnar, but that would be what I would hope, but again, consistently surprised so you never really know.”
On the evolution of his character: “I think I’ve found my final form, and it took me awhile. Some folks get it right out the gate, they know who they’re supposed to be and that’s special, I don’t begrudge them. Me? Slow learner. And I think I’ve found my final form, so it’s really just polishing up the best of the American Nightmare, but I still, I look at everything, I watch everything, I see the speed of the game, I see what’s happening, I see where the puck is going.”
Speaking with Daniel Cormier ahead of WWE SummerSlam 2023, Cody Rhodes explained how his perspective on his own career objectives has changed through the years.
Rhodes stated that he is currently focusing his energy and attention on chasing his personal accomplishments and building up his own brand, knowing that his time in the ring is a limited resource. He said,
“I’m thinking all me, all the time. I joke with some of my other peers that there are guys that will hit you with the, ‘Oh, I’m trying to help you. This will be good for you.’ When you hear it, you’re like, ‘Ah, I feel like this is about you.’ If I’m the one on the receiving end of that conversation, I kind of just want the truth. That’s how I’ve become. It’s something that, in my documentary I talk about, by no means will it ever be important to her, but one of the things about having my daughter was, I lost my sense of BS. It just became, I think I’m pretty good, I’m better, I want to be better, and how much longer do we have on the clock? You feel like it’s never going to end, but it will end at some point. At this moment, I’m not doing any of the things…that is what I was meant to do then, now I feel no problem in saying, ‘Nope, I’m about myself at this moment. I’m about getting it done for me.’”
