Having the support of the audience that night in Philly meant a lot to Rhodes.
The on-sale date for WrestleMania 40 tickets is August 18th. Talents within the company are making the media rounds to promote the event and while in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cody Rhodes sat down with Robbie Fox of My Mom’s Basement.
In 2013, Rhodes was part of a Money in the Bank Ladder match in Philadelphia and the audience rallied behind him in the match. Rhodes shared that-that was a moment that made him hold back on thinking about departing WWE.
For them to have got with me that night (at Money in the Bank 2013), a career milestone. I wouldn’t have stayed with WWE as long as I did had that moment not happened… 2013? Oh yeah (I was thinking about leaving WWE)… I feel like after 2011, ‘12, I was already starting to explore the idea in my mind of could I leave home? Could I try something different? And the world was growing. But yeah, 2013, I definitely was at least thinking about putting a foot out the door so, and that was a moment where I went, nope, nope. We’re clearly doing something right but, you know…
Rhodes is fresh out of a feud with Brock Lesnar that kickstarted on the Raw after WrestleMania 39. Their program concluded at SummerSlam and after Rhodes won, Lesnar embraced him and raised his hand in the ring.
He stated that people will miss Lesnar when he’s gone from wrestling. Rhodes brought up how professional Lesnar is. Looking back at their three matches, Rhodes’ favorite is their bout at Backlash in Puerto Rico.
I don’t wanna ruin the lore or the allure or the mystique, and I don’t think I could, of Brock Lesnar but I will say, if you’ve heard negative things about Brock Lesnar, I’d take them with a grain of salt because I feel like when he’s gone from this, he’ll be greatly missed for how unique and professional and just somebody who’s gonna make you earn every centimeter you get. That’s a psychology that some of this just doesn’t have anymore and to be able to feel that and understand that and learn from that, yeah, absolutely, a unicorn. He is a unicorn in the business. Just special and I don’t ever wanna wrestle him again. But, it was a hell of a learning experience.
By far, Puerto Rico, Backlash (was my favorite match with Lesnar). Crowd was crazy. I’d been there the night before which I kind of was like, ‘They’ve seen me. I wonder if they’ll be excited. Plus, we’re the main event. We’ll see.’ But they were amazing. It was fun to be in Puerto Rico because of the history of wrestling and sports-entertainment in Puerto Rico. But the only thing I thought, when he hit the buckle and turned around and he was covered in blood, the only thing that came to my mind and this sounds silly but, a wrestler or a fan will understand this. The only thing (that) came to my mind was, this is Puerto Rico. Because I’m thinking Abdullah the Butcher, I’m thinking Carlos Colón. I was thinking at a different level about just they’re hardcore and you know, Bad Bunny going out there earlier and had a heck of a showcase with Damian Priest but that was special. I hope we get back to the island for sure. I had an unbelievable time. I did the press conference, I did SmackDown, I did the dark match after SmackDown and then the next day to do Backlash was exciting.
Rhodes headlined the 8/14 Monday Night Raw and scored a win over Finn Bálor. Post-match, Rhodes alongside Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Sami Zayn were beaten down by J.D. McDonagh and The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio).
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
