On a recent episode of the My World podcast, co-host Conrad Thompson shared an anecdote underscoring the widespread popularity of WWE star Cody Rhodes. The story came from a dinner Thompson attended with his wife, Megan, and one of her colleagues, whose husband turned out to be a big wrestling fan and podcast listener.
Thompson explained his surprise at how the conversation unfolded. “I know nobody listening to this cares, but I gotta bring this up to you, because I know you like this sort of thing. Megan had a dinner with a lady she works with, and it was like a work dinner, kinda. And she said, ‘Hey, I want you to go.’ And I was like, ‘Okay,’ so I go,” Thompson said. “But this time, it was all about Cody. Then more Cody, and then Dusty, and then Ric, and The Rock. But Cody dominated the conversation.”
What struck Thompson most was the fan’s demographic. “But he went on and on and on about Cody. And that was an ‘aha’ moment for me, because my man’s in his 40s, like 42 maybe—he’s like my age, I guess, yep. But he was all about Cody,” Thompson stated. He contrasted this with his previous assumption about Rhodes’ fanbase: “And I kind of thought Cody—like Cena before him, like Hogan before him—he’s all about the kids. So like the Cody superfans are going to, respectfully, be younger kids.” The encounter challenged that notion: “And the idea that I had a 40-something-year-old man, Cody, Cody, Cody. Not Flair, not CM Punk, not any of the other stuff, not Roman Reigns, not Drew McIntyre, none of that. Just Cody, Cody. It was an ‘aha’ moment for me.”
Jeff Jarrett weighed in on Rhodes’ meteoric rise and how it fits into WWE’s legacy. “Time takes time. And so that is something. The Cena year coming up, it’s, it’s—I just, like, we can go through the iterations from the WWF ’80s, the Hogan, the literal passing of the baton sometimes happens,” Jarrett observed. He compared past transitions of star power, noting, “Sometimes it’s pretty, sometimes it’s not. Like Hogan to Bret was not a pretty handoff. Would you say? Bret to Shawn… You had Sting and Hulk…” Jarrett concluded by predicting a “magical” passing of the torch from John Cena to Cody Rhodes. “When you look right now and just kind of how things are transpiring, the Cena to Cody handoff, it’s going to be magical,” he said.
This sentiment aligns with internal WWE discussions, as Cena vs. Rhodes has reportedly been a heavily considered match for WrestleMania 41. If it happens, it could mark a significant moment in WWE history, further solidifying Rhodes as a cornerstone of the company’s future.
