Cody Rhodes says he’s addicted to the top spot in WWE
Cody Rhodes recently opened up about his addiction to the top spot in WWE.
Despite being the son of WWE legend Dusty Rhodes, Cody Rhodes had to undergo a lot of struggles and hustle to reach the spot where he is now. After leaving WWE in 2016 due to creative disputes, Rhodes reinvented himself, started AEW, and came back to WWE in 2022. Since his return, the 40-year-old has maintained the spot in the promotion.
Recently speaking in an interview on WWE’s YouTube channel, Rhodes opened up about his role as “QB1” and how the challenges have addicted him to the top spot.
“It felt very important. Coming just to Monday Night Raw, having an interaction unexpected at that with CM Punk. It felt very important because you say QB1, what is QB1? If anything, and maybe the thing I’ve learned that QB1 is the most is consistent. There’s always a flavor of the month, right? There’s always some hot new thing, and good for it. That’s exciting when the crowd can get behind something or something new shows up. But all my faves, all the QB1s before me, were consistent,” Rhodes said.
“They were a week in and week out, and now there’s all these jokes about how I’ve really tried to follow the John Cena model, and I don’t mind those jokes at all, because that’s a hell of a mode, and I think most people run from it because it means work. It means work, and I’m also aware of the other QBs in WWE. If their strategy is less is more, if their strategy is more strategic, then I’m not gonna play that game. I’ll do it differently. I’ll be here every week, and I’ll see this team every week. It’s not a matter of who’s right or wrong; it’s my preference. So to be shaken out of my preference would have been very difficult. Ricky Saints comes to WWE, debuts coming up from NXT.
“As much as he did it in a braggadocious, bullish way, and as much as he pulled my card in the way he did, I needed that. Thank you, Ricky Saints, because that’s the moment that I can say, all right, I am cleared, and not only am I cleared, we’re not gonna wait. We’re not gonna do this big presentation, and this less is more strategy to it. No, we’ll wrestle right here, we’ll wrestle tonight, Sami found that out as well. So I appreciate those guys shaking me out of any type of feeling down in the dumps because I shouldn’t have. I left WrestleMania, and I even said that to CM Punk and it was a mistake to say it, that I didn’t feel so much like a winner and I had been, and I need those challengers. I need them. I’m addicted to the top spot. I’m not afraid to tell anybody that, and I needed them to come in when they did.”
Rhodes is currently scheduled to face Gunther at Clash in Italy, and weeks before that, he defeated Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.