Joe Tessitore speaks with Cody Rhodes before WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia as they discuss the story he’s looking to finish as …
I want to start with the central theme of everything we’ve been doing with uh arriving to this point and that is the finish the story right coach to finish the story but then there was a quote you gave recently where you said I have the privilege but also the burden of playing myself yeah describe that burden for those of us that don’t understand the inner workings of what that means well the suspension of disbelief with pro wrestling and sports entertainment right if you playing dink the clown or when I was doing Stardust or just a character that’s very far removed from you the effect it has on you what you do in the ring lessons a great deal when you go to your car when you go to your back to your home the most successful I’ve been is with this return to WWE and that’s been as myself the character of the American Nightmare shares more of a name but then also the story we’ve been telling from when I came back and the raw right after talking about what I specifically wanted that’s just a kid who is dreaming out in the open and that’s why WrestleMania 39 was so difficult and that’s why just that’s where the burden comes from it’s the privilege as well I would I don’t want to be anything other than me I’ve been things other than me and it doesn’t work but it’s a burden as well uh but the other side of it is somebody who consumes the product yeah is you can feel this relatability to it right you pick up on that well I think uh fans feel that you’re very relatable because of your authenticity with this storyline I actually would say uh yes in terms of the relatability and one of the things that maybe is a good metric or something that sticks out to me is if you look at me for the first time on television you would assume I am the bad guy bleach blonde hair always in a suit I’m not trying to dress down I’m you would assume that I am I the villain I am the heel and if you watch the product and you come to a show you find out very quickly like oh no no it’s a it’s not that which although my story may be relatable and may not be relatable who knows I think they find me as the person was that me yep they find me as the person relatable um how you feeling this like there’s a lot on you how you how you holding up I I think what’s on pressure-wise more than finish the story more than the story of Dusty rhods and the title he held but didn’t win and wanting to win it for him for me more really what’s on the line is This is 40 years of Wrestlemania 40 years anyone who’s watched a single WrestleMania understands what it is to us what it means to wrestling fans it’s a holiday it’s a it’s an Excursion it’s it’s we’ve always said the Super Bowl because it’s the most comparable thing and as WWE’s grown and its Footprints gotten bigger it really does having had been to some Super Bowls it really does have a very similar energy knowing that this is 40 years and that this tag match is the biggest tag match the company has ever done that’s where the pressure really is is if somebody who watched like WrestleMania 10 and saw Bret Hart or something win against Yokozuna and they’re like I’m going to jump back in what’s all the hype about rocks back whatever this and they jump back in we have to execute we have to deliver I am fully aware of the pressure of the story not being able to challenge Roman Reigns again if I don’t win the tag match The Rock versus me and that whole dynamic that’s just kind of organically popped up in our face but more than anything the I feel the 40 Years of WrestleMania pressure because I’ve watched every WrestleMania I love WrestleMania I that’s what I do on my bus just curious your first flash memory cuz you you mentioned Caesar’s Palace r six okay that’s your first flash Toronto it’s first memory of all ever I believe it’s WrestleMania 6 but just being put down on the mat and then being picked up and seeing the turnbuckle pad the yellow and the blue I think my dad wanted me to know how hard the ring was um that was my first memory memory so a WrestleMania and my daughter too from her first experience ever at my job was coming last year to WrestleMania so that’s what she assumes I do for a living if you ask her where where did I go she says every week WrestleMania so okay sure yeah yeah um but the origin story and the seed that is planted even goes further back than that for you and I know you’re you say you’re a guy goes on YouTube I imagine that if you think about the origin story you think a lot about mid 1970s Madison Square Garden Billy Superstar Graham is that really where where you say foundationally what the drive is here oh I mean that’s the story we’re looking to finish but I I kind of would I guess peel it back a little bit to say it it was something I wanted to do the goal was to to hand it to my dad this title that he won but didn’t win and oh look we got it you know as a family after time you know passes on and he had passed away the gold shifted a little bit to if anyone can understand this and I think they can to almost a competitiveness here he is is like okay surrounding the ring is Paul Heyman who my dad gave his first break in the industry then there’s Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns two of his kids from NXT who he helped provide their characters and some growth for them uh then there’s the rock who my dad was partners with his dad Rocky Johnson and they families ate dinner together and all of this when you’re you want your own right and I love being the son of Dusty roads but if I ever got to see Dusty rhods again and I could tell him hey I won the WWE Championship that would just feel so good just like last year Main Event in WrestleMania is as hard as getting elected president it feels like the fact that we’re doing it again lucky I’m as lucky as anyone has ever been does this feel different in terms of the build to this because just as an observer and somebody this thing feels like it has crossed over mainstream yeah in such a big way does it feel are you too much in the eye of the hurricane or do you sense that as well I think I’m a little I’m in the eye of the hurricane and I want to think we’ve done two years of record business I want to think that this was the driving force to where we are now but I be lying if I said that a portion of this doesn’t have to do with the rock MH he crosses over like you know there’s there’s always this Talk Amongst the pure hardcore wrestling fans how do we get the Casual fans when really it’s not an actual thing anymore the Casual we’re almost all casual fans you know and then the the hardcore fans they’re always with it they’re ride or die but he is an example of where you can say yeah he does he captures everybody and I think he’s pushed us over the edge we were there the guys had had done it Seth Rollins had been doing it on Monday Night Raw Becky Lynch Ria Ripley of course tribal Chief Roman Reigns myself I’d like to put in there we were doing all we could and I think Rock just pushed us over the edge now here we are well mentioning pushing Over The Edge Let’s get into what we’ve actually watched in recent weeks because there has been a brutality there has been a violence there has been a a really tangible force of a rivalry like it comes through the screen how would you characterize it I think that a little bit of attitude has been brought back back and and and obviously rock is one of the the main men who ushered in the Attitude Era but I feel a little bit of the attitude has been put back by force is exactly how the Attitude Era would do it like example we’re standing in the ring me Roman Seth and him and I don’t mean this from an age perspective I mean this from just a uniqueness I thought I was looking at a dinosaur because he’s so different from everyone in our locker room not just the the the size and the the not just the the clothes it he was the final boss has developed and I think the final boss has brought that that grit and that attitude and the only way for it to work for anyone other than him is you have to step up to that level you have to get get get on the level that’s what the greats do they bring you up you get up to the greats and I I don’t mind uh swinging for the fences by any means and it’s been a very different build than anyone anticipated yeah so you didn’t see you didn’t expect this kind of build this has even surprised you I I didn’t I was confident I could get back to Wrestlemania 40 which is a insane confidence because it’s a year really come on the attention spans are so short my own attention span is so it’s a year can we really do it and right there at the Finish Line we decided nope we can’t Rock’s going to come in I was actually with you backstage that week yeah we were back near catering one day we had a conversation for about 10 minutes and I remember you said to me you said Hey listen things are going in a certain direction here and that and we had a conversation and then comes this force of nature from the fans yeah right this Revolt of source a movement right a movement and the we want Cody stuff just never and it couldn’t be denied yeah what was your reaction action to that reaction when that happened I was really it was I was adamant after Birmingham where I had said I will not wrestle Roman and Rock’s going to wrestle Roman and I wasn’t going to say anything I don’t want to pretend that I like this but I also don’t want to sour grapes I don’t want to be I don’t want to whne I’d even had Roman’s voice in my ear because he asked me before WrestleMania 39 hey what happens if you don’t win are you going to quit again again yeah right and I that one always stuck with me because it is a real answer like a real question and it needed to be answered so I did nothing and that’s one of the most blessed things ever is that I did nothing and they did everything I never once put the hashtag we want Cody out I never did it never I just let it be and this WrestleMania again back to the 40 years I was telling them earlier today on show it’s a gift this is just a gift to to sports entertainment and pro wrestling fans this whole two nights plus everything else going on it’s just a gift and for me that’s the gift that I want to I want to give them because of what they’ve given me we’re very deep into this conversation and we have not spent a lot of time in discussing uh Roman Reigns which is very odd you’re going into because rock you the two of you have really taken a lot of the shine here sure in the build um Roman’s Title reign has not come without criticism you yourself have pointed to his lack of frequency sure and activity if Sunday night goes the way you intend for it to go yeah what kind of champion will you be I had said I’d like to be a champion who is present and what I mean to kind of extrapolate on that just present whereas Roman was not frequently there is I want to wrestle on Monday Night Raw and I Ona wrestle on Friday Night Smackdown and I Want To Be A Champion like the Champions that I grew up loving and I mean it’s a myriad list but guys like Terry Funk guys like Nature Boy Ric Flair uh guys like the rock guys like Triple H just that Championship defines the company and who’s holding it and we and I use the term all the time this is really how I feel is I have wanted to play quarterback my entire career and I have played backup quarterback I’ve got in for a few series I’ve even maybe played a full game as a starter but I’ve never been the number one and everyone in this match has other than me so it’s that’s that’s what I I really want to breath like there’s a reason my hero is Tom Brady for example you know the the the worst of combines and and and someone you know fourth string whatever it was and then works his way all the way upward there we’re at that moment again it none of it matters if we don’t execute but I feel we execute listen you’ve been on a terror of activity and you’ve been very present you’ve been serving the fans you’ve been very very active um and then you have a huge weekend how do you manage it all when you know what’s going to be asked of you Saturday night yeah than knowing the biggest moment of your career comes Sunday night just give us a sense of training both mentally physically for your ability to then perform at that level back to back nights well first off you can’t let the Wrestlemania week defeat you mhm you will you will probably talk to some people today who it might have defeated them so much goes into this that you know WWE World the Hall of Fame Friday Night Smackdown the train never stops and we’re all together and the media appearances everything so you can’t let any of that defeat you you have to get every you have to be prepared and I’m very very Prep Prep Prep Prep Prep but when it comes to what that feeling is like going into the weekend all I’m focused on is Saturday okay Sunday could be the biggest moment in my entire career could be a massive moment in WWE it could not who but Saturday I feel like can’t it gets all my attention when I’m thinking about what we’re doing I’m just thinking about Saturday and I think a lot of people are like oh obviously you’re thinking about if you win holding the title and all that I I’ve never been there I have no frame of reference other than watching other guys who have held the title so I’m not thinking about it I’m thinking about Saturday and another reason for that is the fans expect both nights to be truly Gang Busters and it has to be that’s our that’s our job otherwise this shouldn’t be two nights you’ve done a lot of mainstream media this week you’ve done very well with that you’ve been making the rounds and pushing everything I feel like I’m doing terrible in this interview so thank you you’re doing really you’ve done really well with everything but if you had one final chance to hear you know a mainstream audience here to to look at them I’ll give you your chance right right here and say why you should watch this weekend what is the reason why what’s the hook to put in the mouth that reels in them why someone should watch Wrestlemania 40 is because everybody knows what pro wrestling is or at least they think they know what pro wrestling is and if you’re someone who’s not put your toe in the water in quite some time if you watch a WrestleMania all these preconceived notions out the window the Grandeur the Beauty the Big Daddy of Mall the Showcase of the Immortals it all makes sense the first time you see a WrestleMania moment right in front of you and in addition to that this is everything on the table all in every chip every card because this is everyone’s Collective energy your entire locker room everyone in this room uh who works for WWE everyone in the locker room this is our Collective energy meeting the fans Collective energy I could say it’s the Super Bowl of pro wrestling but in my heart growing up in the industry I think it’s bigger than anything out there and you represent the industry so well it’s great to spend time with you on the eve of such a huge weekend Cody rhods best of luck this weekend thank you very much