Cody Rhodes is happy to blur the line between reality and fiction heading into the biggest weekend of his career.
The WWE star will headline WrestleMania 40, a two-night event that will feature Rose in the main event on both Saturday and Sunday. On night one, he will face rival Seth Rollins in a tag team match, as well as current WWE Kingpin Roman Reigns and Reigns' cousin, Hollywood icon Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. On the second night, Rose and Reigns will go one-on-one for Reigns' Undisputed Universal Championship.
WrestleMania has historically served as the culmination of the WWE calendar year, and the 2024 edition will have no shortage of drama, with Rose looking to avenge his loss to Reigns at WrestleMania 39. The return of Johnson, one of the most successful wrestlers in WWE history, complicated matters, and at one point it seemed like an A-list celebrity would face Reigns instead, but due to fan outcry, Rose was committed. He returned to the headliner position.
Rose appeared in MMA hour Talking about his relationship with Johnson, he said that even if he didn't like him, he respected his fellow performers in the ring.
“I think The Rock has become so many things,” Rose said. “Movie star, billionaire, philanthropist, business owner, president of a division, Under Armor, connections, all that stuff. And when you strip that away, what he has most is a professional wrestler.
“I don't have to like him – and I really, really don't like The Rock – but I'm respected all over the world [for him]. I found another professional wrestler and he is one of them. It's there. ”
It's unclear whether Rose is simply continuing to act or expressing genuine dissatisfaction with Johnson's involvement, but their on-screen feud definitely captured the imagination of professional wrestling fans around the world. Rose won the Royal Rumble in January of this year, earning him the right to face Reigns again, but withdrew when Johnson returned to WWE television.
The part where Rose gave up the main event spot at WrestleMania 40 to The Rock was met with immediate backlash from fans, ultimately leading to Rose winning back the match with Reigns and starting a dramatic rivalry with The Rock. The story unfolded with many twists and turns that led to a fire.
When he heard Johnson would be joining the company's WrestleMania plans, Rose claimed he didn't care.
“I kept telling everyone, 'Don't flinch,'” Rose said. “I wasn't daunted, I really thought that. After handing over the main event of WrestleMania to The Rock, I'm still here somewhere — it sounds very weird, maybe naive, maybe arrogant.” It may sound like a bummer – I still thought I would find my way there. But I still thought so. That's one of the reasons I kept quiet. I didn't want to have an opinion on it. There wasn't.
“I don't want to go into the behind-the-scenes details and things like that. What was there was what was there. We felt like we could still get away with it, but thankfully, literally millions of people… People were successful and I was able to come back.”
If it sounds like Rose is taking too much advantage of his on-screen drama, it's important to remember that he was second fiddle at WrestleMania 39 12 months ago. At the time, Rose was widely expected to defeat Reigns and ultimately win WWE's top title. (In story terminology, Rose's angle was described as him “finishing the story.”)
As Rose recalls, when the decision was made for Reigns to retain the belt, the disappointment he and his family felt was so real that loved ones expressed their anger through property damage. was.
“My mother-in-law, Jill Reed, demolished the suite they all lived in,” Rose said. “Cursing, screaming. For the high-stakes situation that is WrestleMania 39, and for people in the MMA world who may not fully understand pro wrestling, there's a lot more real to it than you might imagine. It’s a very real moment.”
There are a lot of big egos at the top of the wrestling world, but Rose has proven over the past year that he's one of the names fans covet most, as hurt by past WrestleMania failures. I'm equally inspired by. He was given the crown to move the company forward.
He believes that support is what put The Rock in difficult situations.
“I'm never going to explain this to The Rock,” Rose said. “I don't need to fill the air with positive things about The Rock, but I can tell you this: I think it really gets to him. The whole 'We Want Cody' thing, the disgustingness of the video. , and everything else, and I don't think he understands that there are people out there who are screaming “diarrhea” and “Rocky sucks” and “Die Rocky Die” and whatever. , some of them are wearing rock goods.They still believe that the “people's champion” is under the “last boss”, they just don't believe it [like] It was at the expense of investing in what we were doing.
“If he were to come on your show and make it clear to you that he hates my guts, I would totally understand. Okay, I'm the one who created this situation. The fan made it even bigger for me and got me here dancing, so even if he didn't like me, I'd accept it.”
