Cody Rhodes addresses dealing with ‘outside forces’ ahead of WrestleMania 42
Cody Rhodes is no stranger to outsiders getting involved in his WrestleMania feuds. The past two years have been evident with The Rock and Travis Scott’s interference.
Rhodes discussed the external factors involved in his WrestleMania feud this year on The Rich Eisen Show. He remarked how being a fan of his during the PLE season is challenging due to the frequent external influences affecting his matches.
“You can look at this year and say ‘hey, here’s Pat McAfee’, you could look at the year before and say ‘here’s Travis Scott’, you can look at the year before and say ‘here’s The Rock.’”
“If you’re a Cody Rhodes fan during WrestleMania season, it’s a choice. We deal with outside forces, we deal with ‘hey, they want to be part’, we’re about it, and I can say this, it’s a spot I always wanted. If you’re gonna be in the big moments you have to be ready for the big jobs.”
“Pat being part of ESPN and WWE WrestleMania is on ESPN for the first time ever, it’s actually a natural fit. Does it fit in a 20 year wrestler-wrestler student-teacher mentor, all that, does it fit in there? No, but Pat sure thinks it does, and now Pat has the title, so we can tell that story another time. That story’s also already been told, lets figure out how this unfolds.”
“Listen, Pat McAfee, Randy Orton, that’s one thing, but we’re getting to this point now where you go through so much as a wrestler, I mentioned the previous WrestleManias, maybe it’s time for me to change. That’s a new layer of paint for Randy Orton, he’s associated with Pat, he doesn’t need that by any means, but that’s what he’s doing. Maybe I change? Maybe you walk that other side.”
“I’ve been saying for so long I don’t think I can do heel stuff. After a while it feels like it’s almost expected that I’m gonna lose it at some point, he’s gonna snap, and how does that look?”
McAfee was revealed to be Randy Orton’s mystery caller on the April 3 edition of SmackDown. He joined Orton in attacking and verbally provoking the Undisputed WWE Champion. On last week’s show, McAfee walked away with the WWE title after a confrontation with Rhodes, which culminated in Orton ambushing his WrestleMania opponent. Jelly Roll sided with Rhodes in the feud but ended up getting attacked by Orton too.
Orton and Rhodes will headline Night One of WrestleMania 42 this weekend for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.