Cody Rhodes has been the top babyface in the WWE since his return at WrestleMania 38 and going right into a feud with Seth Rollins. Since then, he’s had ups and downs, including a WrestleMania XL WWE Title win over Roman Reigns. He has had a loyal and strong connection to the fans throughout it.
Now, he has another challenge in his way. Rhodes is set to defend his Undisputed WWE Championship against John Cena at WrestleMania 41.
Cena may question Cody’s authenticity, but Cody says he’s real and is not playing a character.
“It’s always easier [to be the bad guy]. Every week, I think they’re gonna boo me and every week we’ve been lucky where it’s been like, no, we like you,” Cody said during an interview on Pardon My Take. “I genuinely find a surprise every night, the way they do my entrance, I’m surrounded by all this pyro and then it does these sparks and then I can really hear the audience and it’s legit the coolest thing ever.
I don’t know, I don’t know the formula, I think there’s an element of being in the family and the love they had with my dad and the connection we had. I think it’s cause I took them on the full ride from the time I was back at WWE — also, with the suspension of disbelief and what we do, everything about me is [real]. I don’t have a character, I am me and I’m really happy that it has worked out. I’m always expecting like, yup, Barclays or something, or Chicago is notoriously a tough wrestling market and then in those places, they’re like, nah he’s cool. I’m very lucky. At a certain point, who knows, but it’s very blessed.”
