Cody Rhodes will challenge Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 39.
On the “Out of Character with Ryan Satin” podcast, Rhodes discussed returning to work after his father Dusty passed, as well as Sami Zayn’s rise on the Road To WrestleMania 39.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On returning to work soon after his father passed: “Yeah, actually well it was — not funny, but I remember I flew into Chicago. We were we were getting into the nitty-gritty on potentially Stardust versus Stephen Amell from Arrow, and now my my good friend, Stephen. We were getting into that, and we wanted to start work on it on television. I flew to Chicago and it was, I think it was just a collector who caught me on a bad day. But somebody had come up to me and I wasn’t just there in that moment, I wasn’t going to be able to do it. So I did go back to work but not, actually I needed some some time. And I feel like looking back on it in hindsight, I wish I had immediately gone back to work. Because you’ve got to fill the time, right? You’ve got to fill the time, and there’s a cathartic element to doing interviews in the ring and a cathartic element to wrestling.”
On his in-ring work being therapeutic for him: “To be totally transparent, one of the reasons I wrestle so violently — people this Monday might have noticed, I was bleeding a little from my forehead, and me and Chad Gable absolutely brought it to one another. One of the reasons I wrestle like that is because this is my cathartic, therapeutic thing that that I do. I go out there with a lot in here [his stomach] that I want to kind of throw up on the canvas. [chuckles] And that’s just one of the reasons why, more more than usual, if you watch me leaving a ring that night um there’s probably a chop mark, or a scratch or a cut or something. Just because I like it. It helps me with everything in my life, all the different things that we face on on a daily basis, and anxieties and issues that we have. I mean all wrestlers are — I don’t mean to use it in a way that offends anybody, but we’re all a little crazy. And one of the things that maybe keeps me from spinning out is, I can get crazy in the ring.”
On Sami Zayn’s fan support during the Road to WrestleMania: “I think you look at things as — I looked at it as a challenge, is probably the best way to look at it. And not a negative challenge, a challenge of, ‘Sami is doing amazing things, you didn’t just buy yourself some future spot. You’ve got to get back in there and show people exactly what you can do’… What a great problem to have when you have two very strong characters. And one of the worst things we can do as a community is trying to turn the characters against one another? I actually heard — I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I actually think I heard [Disco Inferno] say, ‘What a great problem to have.’ And that is a really truly great problem to have.
“Now, Sami got his shot in Montreal, in his hometown, and came as close as anyone. Drew may be very similar in terms of being close. And Sami and I have a real genuine relationship. I never looked at it in a sense that I thought anything of, ‘Well, if they love him, and I’m been so lucky that they love me in this moment too, I better make sure I give them the absolute best. And again, leave no doubt.’ I never once looked at it as a problem. I looked at it as a challenge and for WWE as a whole, a great problem to have.”
On their segment in Brooklyn: “And I think Brooklyn — every show is a little more telling but Brooklyn, in the Barclays Center, that filled me with confidence as far as, their belief in what he’s doing and their belief in what I’m doing. There are stories to be finished here for both sides, and the worst thing you can do is turn those against each other. And as we stood there I thought, ‘Well, I’d love to wrestle this guy. I would love to wrestle this guy.’ Because you know, Sami wasn’t sweating me when I was Stardust, and rightfully so. He didn’t need too. He was coming up from NXT and on a roll. It’s a different person now. So very much it’s a match that I look forward to, when and if it ever happens with somebody like a Sami Zayn. He’s a next level performer, and he’s even more of an elite next level human being.”
