Cody Rhodes has had an incredible run since his return to WWE at WrestleMania 38, winning three consecutive premium live event victories over Seth Rollins before being sidelined for the second half of 2022 due to a torn pec.
Rhodes returned in January, winning the Men’s Royal Rumble match before headlining the second night of WrestleMania 39, where he was defeated by Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Rhodes discussed how this run feels fresh, claiming that if they had done this match 8-10 years ago, it would not have read the same way. He believes it is new because of how he approaches things in WWE versus how he handled it during his first run.
“You mentioned something. You said it must feel new. It does, and it feels new. And I always tell people, ‘Hey, I’m a slow learner. It took me a while to get to the spot I wanted to be.’ But when I think of a new match, when somebody says Cody versus somebody, even if we had done that match eight years ago, ten years ago, it doesn’t read the same way,”Rhodes stated. “It all reads brand new because I had found my footing, and it was always so nice and humble, and you guys are just making me feel great. I’m waiting for Dave to drop the hammer on some tough questions here, but I’ll say there was a period of time, and maybe it wasn’t when I was in WWE when we were hanging out, there was a period of time where I really feel like I lost my compass and I was arrogant, and I was grizzled. You know how guys get grizzled long before they ever should be grizzled? I was all those things, and I was really angry. And a lot of that work is evident when you look at what I did with New Japan and Ring of Honor. And there was like an anger to me that I was motivated differently. Now, it’s not anger that motivates me. It’s, you know, maybe having a daughter that’s probably changed it. But, you know, it’s different. And it’s been better for me as motivation. It’s been more positive. I really appreciate you saying that.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
