Cody Rhodes had a wild ride to WrestleMania 40 and nearly didn’t main event at one point, and he recently looked back on his reaction to that possibility. Rhodes spoke on Insight With Chris Van Vliet about knowing that he might not main event WrestleMania when he won the Royal Rumble and how he reacted to that news, and how the feud that followed with The Rock allowed him to believe in his own hype. You can see some highlights below (courtesy of Wrestling Inc):
On winning the Royal Rumble knowing he might not main event WrestleMania: “It was the lowest I’ve ever felt, but also, I just won the Royal Rumble for the second time. That’s a life-changing moment. How can you not appreciate that and enjoy it and feel it? But that was a very rough day.”
On hiding the news from CM Punk and others: “I never had this discussion with him, do you know what’s happening? But it was also, I freely discuss it because the documentary is out there and everyone’s told their story and all that, but it was just a very, very tough day.”
On taking it personally initially: “It was a nice reminder, not to take anything personally in wrestling… I’ve worked in management, I’ve done this, I should know that more than anybody. So I had to walk out of that room and not take it personally.”
On gaining confidence heading into WrestleMania: “What happened with The Rock at WrestleMania 40 was the … first time I ever believed in my own hype. It was the first time I ever thought, ‘Maybe someone from this generation did get over.’ … I tell people all the time, ‘Nobody today is over.’ Because you hear ‘over’ all the time and to me, ‘over’ is [when] you can’t step a foot out [of] your house without cameras, without a moment. I just have a loftier opinion of ‘over.’ John Cena is ‘over.'”
