The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Cody Rhodes Talks WrestleMania 42, 'STREET FIGHTER,' & Return To WWE After AEW Departure +More

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, Cody Rhodes Talks WrestleMania 42, 'STREET FIGHTER,' & Return To WWE After AEW Departure. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Shalermaine the guy. We are the breakfast. Fis Club. Lawn LaRose is here as well. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, we do. Cody Rose. Welcome, sir. Thank you. I clapped for myself. He's all good. Thank you guys for having me. How are you feeling? I'm good. From WWE.

Yeah, no, I brought the WWE title. I see. I see. The big one. So I like to start from the beginning. So what got you into wrestling? And I know you're going to say your dad, but besides your dad, what got you interested where you said, I can do this and I want to do this? Well, I mean, there's obviously the osmosis in terms of like you said, the familial connection to it. but really what got me into it

because he was, my dad was much older. I didn't see him wrestle in his prime was going to those shows, the WCW shows when I was a kid. And this is, these are markets like Savannah, Georgia, and, you know, Macon and Chattanooga. And those crowds, there's a wrestler named Brad Armstrong.

He used to just do a move, an arm drag, basic wrestling move. But I remember watching it and hearing the reaction, and there was just this, like, deafening pop for this physical, simple, basic stuff. And that's where I fell in love with it. It was more almost hearing it than seeing it,

just because of the interaction, that's the cool thing about pro wrestling, is we're very reliant on our audience, and it's fun to be in New York because the audience in New York can be tricky. So, yeah, no, that was the moment. That arm drag is actually the one where I thought, I can do this.

Yeah. Did you know you wanted to be a professional wrestler? I mean, so this is funny. My dad, he played, like, baseball. He was one of those classic 60-70s where they played every sport and somehow were great at all of them, you know, all that. But none of them in my family actually did real folk style, Greco, freestyle, what you would see in the Olympics, that type of wrestling. So I plugged into that really early in my career because this is going to sound silly now. But I didn't want, if anyone ever thought that my dad was, you know, like this phony TV wrestler, I always wanted to have this little edge like, well, you know, I got this.

And that was the thing I loved the most. But I knew that I wanted to go into pro wrestling more, the storytelling at a very, very young age. My fear when I was 17, 18, I'm getting ready to pop out and go for it was that I wasn't big enough. Right? You watch this stuff. I was going to say that.

I was going to say most wrestlers when you see them there gigantic. It looks like they're roared up, very big, huge necks poise, very strong. Big necks. But I didn't see that from you, boys. Yeah, no, I, uh, Today I'm lucky it's a light heavyweight game. I'm one of them just pretty two degrees, sometimes one of the bigger guys now,

which is not the case with my WrestleMania opponent, which is Randy Orden, which is one of the more old school types. You know, 6-6, 280 legitimate pounds, giant neck, giant like, yeah, no, but that was my fear. And it wasn't until I saw, you know, macho man Randy Savage is a great example of somebody who wasn't big, but he made himself big.

It's the outfits, the pageantry, but also how he moved in the ring. He gave himself this larger than life approach. And again, this is storytelling. It can be whatever we want. So after I got over that fear, I was able to just jump right in. How difficult was it to make it professional? What were the steps to actually get into professional wrestling, opposed to those markets?

Because we hear all the time that it was like, it's just a lucky star one day. Somebody put you on and the crowd of screaming names. How difficult was it for you to get it to get to that? Well, so for me, getting in is not difficult at all. It's the easiest thing ever. And I have the absolute respect and love for guys who are out on the independent scene, hustling and hustling and hustling because for me it was the last name. And it was out of respect for my dad, we'll give him a job.

Yeah. The issue then becomes that's easy getting in the door. But if you're filling those boots or people think you're filling those boots, or people think you're filling those boots or you're in that shadow and my brother too. This is two generations now who have made a big impact in WWE.

That's where it became very, very difficult. So it's a trade-off. You get it in the door, but also you're living up to an incredibly well-reveered professional wrestler whose contributions still are happening in the industry. That's where it became very hard. And I would say I'm a fairly slow learner.

I didn't pop off in a way where I could feel like, hey, they're into this. These are my people. Like, ah. Yeah. Like, I didn't get that until mid-30s. And now it's the elusive connection that John Cena always taught us about and preached to me because I drove John around for a few years.

It just came a little later for me, but it's still still there. So hanging on. How did you keep yourself together, like mentally, like, you know, motivating yourself when things didn't pop off right away? because you have like the shadow of like your family and you're you know expecting all this stuff I wish I could say I handled things really maturely and diplomatically but if I I started at WW when I was 20 years old

so I was a baby when I started there and up until 30 they treated me like I was a baby still even though I'd grown and I'd wrestled Triple H and I'd been in the ring with The Undertaker I'd taken this I drove John around I drove Randy around I'd learned but I was still treated a little bit as a kid So I walked.

I walked and did what we would say is like reverse order. I went and did independent wrestling. I went to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Me and my buddy started our own alternative wrestling promotion. I actually made it to linear cable. And then it was time to come home. And then coming home, I got treated very differently. So I don't know if that's the advice I would give because I think most of the times I say,

hey, you stand in there. You weather the storm. But this was a case where I just took my ball somewhere else, but was able to really. sharpen my skills and see what's out there and bring it back. I couldn't, you got to find yourself. So I can't really hate on them for bad booking or bad. There was that, sure, but I hadn't found who I was.

And I think when I came back, I at least had an idea. I think this is me. Yeah. I think you'll like this, you know. You know, I was going to ask, you know, I was reading an article. It said, WWE's roster is older than ever, right? This is the oldest you've seen, right? Seasoned.

They say season, yeah. Most of them are over 35 and in the 40s. But usually it's a lot younger. Why do you think that is? Well, it goes, it goes in phases. So in like the golden 80s, it was, we used to joke, wrestler prime for the man was 35 to 42. That's in the golden 80s.

And that's because they needed all that experience psychologically. They worked. They did this town to town. Live crowds are everything. How do you work with a live crowd? How do you involve them with this? We're not doing this just for each other. And we're not doing this just for the camera.

How are they involved? that now has cycled back because a few years ago they brought in it was what I'd say is like all freshmen on a varsity team there's this famous picture

of me and CM Punk and Matt Cardona and we're all babies and we had won the big titles but we didn't have a clue really at that point we didn't have that experience so now I think you're getting back

into where you've got I know exactly who we're talking about here Roman me punk Randy the main events of WrestleMania right I just like to say it's a very experienced crew. And I do feel I'm in my prime.

I really do. It could be over tomorrow because I've been doing this and falling down since I was 20. But I feel like I'm there. And I think WDB, Sean Michaels, particular. Shout out to Sean. What they're doing in NXT is making it so that when it's time, you know, if I take a bad bump tonight

and all of a sudden I do feel it. I feel my age and that older seeps in. I can tell you you can step in. He already visited here. Trick Williams Oh, true. Yeah. That's a baby, right?

Trick Williams. Oba. Kit Wilson's out there doing an incredible job. I'm not giving nothing up. But I know they're there. And they're such great, like, young guys that we have on the show right now. And Sean got them all ready to NXT. Ethan Page, Ricky Saints.

They're all going to make their way up here. It'll cycle back to where it's too young. So let it be a little older. Let it be a little older. I know you said you're not. I don't say you're not giving nothing up right now, but, you know, with your relationship with John Cena, right, and watching how he, like, decided to, like, step away

and doing other things. How have you begin thinking about, like, once you do decide, like, all right, I want to do other things and not be in the ring? Well, he's been really good about basically knowing when, because I think he had told me the number he gave me was he thinks he did his retirement three years too late. Like, he was really feeling it, you know, because I had gotten in the ring with him and met life,

And he felt like the best he'd ever been, but I imagine that wasn't able to do it as consistently as he used to do, right? So he had just given me the Iggy to be honest with myself when it's time to let WWB know, hey, I think this next year I'm gonna wind down or I'll do less dates or this day

and then plug into some other ways to tell stories. Like I just got the opportunity to do the movie Street Fighter. So excited about that. Oh, yeah. It felt very similar to me. It's just a different way of telling a story. and I plugged into that

and I think I'll do more of that in the next five years and then maybe that's a transition that just naturally takes place. I don't feel it yet though and I'm not lying to you. Like I don't feel it yet but I will be honest because again doing this since 20

and actually watching my dad and brother where their my dad had his legs were black and blue. He was beat up and that's tough. I got two little girls, one's four, one's seven months. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah. I don't want them to be, I won't be able to pick them up. So if I get the sense we're near that, like I'm an old man all of a sudden, then I'll know.

He said you're not ready yet, but then you put five years on it. So you've kind of been closely thinking about time period. I'm giving scoops without realizing I'm giving scoops. I probably have five years left on paper. You know, so that the, but by then, if I get there, I could say, hey, no, I could keep going. It's really all a matter of The modern WWE schedule Isn't what it used to be The grind is different The grind's still there

But it's not up down bump every night A town It's not the same So with everything we do today And like the modern WWB Which is far healthier I really don't know what the spot is But I bet you it's right around there

And your wife was a wrestler too Yeah So how was that when y'all get in arguments No but my wife is just My wife She trained at NXT, which was the performance, you know, where we were developing wrestlers. And then they, at the time, we're down a ring announcer. And they, hey, can you?

It's one of those. Can you do this? I could. And she came up and she was the ring announcer. And that's where we met. And then she went over to Japan. I remember poor girl. She wrestled three matches with her collarbone, totally broken.

I never needed to see my wife wrestle or know that she's a wrestler to know. She's just a very tough. woman, she's from Detroit. She's a very, her, just the way she looks at people when she's in a bad mood. Brandy's got a different spirit than I have. You know how people are confrontational and non-confrontational? I'm a non-confrontational person.

My wife's a confrontational person. So you run. So I'm there, I'm on the side. I'm adjacent. And let me say, she's a black woman, so I know she'd be like, I don't get the hell up out of here. I already know. She's, the thing she's done in her career,

in her life where she said basically we're up, we're leaving. Or if I was down, nope, we're not having that. Just really, I tell people all the time, like, it's all hers. I don't want to get super emotional about it, but like, so everything we have is, oh, damn, got me.

It's her. Because she put a lot over here so I could go and make these moves that I made, so, yeah. I know you mentioned. Yeah, go ahead. I think we want to talk about the street fight. Yeah.

Yeah. Talk about that. How did that even come about? You were in the trailer. Everybody was excited about it. Can I tell you a crazy story about getting the role? Of course. I didn't think.

So Roman Rains has been announced as a Kuma. And I thought, oh, man, dang, man. That's awesome. Good for him, but also like, dang, man. Like, I was really happy for him, right? I didn't think they'd be interested in anybody else from the wrestling space. But I got a call saying, would you come to a legendary and meet the producer and meet and talk with a producer.

I thought it was just a general meeting. Really, sincerely thought it was a general meeting. And I thought, best case scenario, they're like, could you consult? Because I played this game, and I loved this game. And I had a buddy who played competitively in Japan. I'm like, man, I know enough. That's right.

Maybe they'll have me as a consultant. If not, great meeting, happy to go. I get there, and the director's on Zoom. He's in Australia. Producers across from me. I'm just thinking, okay, cool, we're going to talk street. fighter talk 1994 you know and then they said give us a second the head of the studio wants to come down here okay that's cool i like mean people you know this is no pressure meeting for me and uh she comes in

and just like all the aura and swagger you could imagine or just just and she kind of the whole room is there and she just hits it she's like hey you know i know your schedule is what it is but we really like you for the role of guile and uh we think you'd be incredible the dates are going to be what the dates are. These guys are going to give you the information, but I'm just happy to meet you. This is going to be awesome. She leaves. Damn. Wow. So I'm like, what are we doing here? Like, is this real? And I'm also like lying through my teeth a little bit because the guys asking me, he's like, you think WW will be okay with that?

Yeah. They're going to be great. They're going to be fine. Champ's going to leave for him and they're going to be great. And thank gosh, you know, W.W.E's president, Nick Con, he knew the power. He understands. And he knows, he knows. He understands. So it wasn't and Triple H understood it was an easy to sell but after I left there was a it was like it was all set up

there's another wrestler in Hollywood I'll just leave him nameless who called me as I'm leaving and he goes hey how'd that meeting go? He knew he knew it was going about to go down so I told him for the future I go you can tell me I'm not going to blow it you can tell me but it was

so much fun and that's that set Katow Sakurai the director incredible story he's telling so much fan service towards the game Noah Kalina and Koji the three leads you got your Ryu your Ken and your Chun Li they just they're the hard soul of this thing and then Orville Peck who's doing Vega and you know Andrew Schultz and it's just this like wild collection around them it really they gave us a lot of room to play and have fun and find out

you know in my case like who's Gile where does Gile fit in all this yeah I'm very very excited about it Yeah, it's, uh, when I put the, when I put it on, the flat top, the wig, the flat top, yeah. My costumes, you know, it's not much, it's the tank top, it's the fatigues, it's the boots, the tattoo and the, and when I put that on, I felt, I felt, I, I felt like I was him. I didn't even like seeing the double with it. I'm like, no, just me. Yeah. I'm the only one with a stew here, you know?

Yeah, it's cool, though. The movie's going to be great. And then I think in probably the next few weeks, there's probably some more about the movie coming out. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I was going to ask you, you know, with the ring,

we had trick up in the ring, he talked about his craziest time in the ring, right? Things went left. What was your craziest time in the ring when something were left? I mean, went left? Yeah. I've had so much stuff go left. What's the worst one? Go let

Okay, so Arne Anderson, right? Super important in my career. Legend, he helped develop Brock Lesnar, he helped develop John Cena, Randy Orden. He became my manager for a brief time, right? Brief time. And really, it was all about just having that

rub up, that synergy with the old school. And since my dad's not with me anymore, I always liked having people in his life near me, kind of like surrogate uncles and dads. But he's older, right? So the Arn is up there and he's standing there. He's got his slacks on and I made him wear this Mike Ditka vest with my logo on it. He hated that.

He's up on the top of the ramp and there's two guys who are running to fight us. And it was very clear he's going to throw a punch and you block this punch. I mean, it is like you just do this. This is a clear thing and then just start punching him and his name. You know, he'll, I'll fight the other guy and we'll fight to the ring and it'll be exciting. People love a fight that spills out all over the arena. well I'm standing there and here they come running. They're coming with full intent.

I look over and he's just gone. He just fell into the pyro grave. So he's just falling under the production. But I don't know how he fell. Right. So multiple times with this OG, these incidents would happen. So that one, he fell. And I could see the young guys like trying to pull him up

so you don't get blown up by the pyro but also fight you back down the ramp. Another time in Arthur Ashe Stadium, he's supposed to be, waiting on the backside of the ring and I'm been ready to shoot the guy off towards him. He's nowhere to be found. Damn. And I just said, screw it. I shot the guy off anyways. There's no like, no, like, because he went around the post and he just fell.

I think in the end I was asking too much. And he was of the thought like, yeah, I can do it. Yeah. But a lot of great memories happen with my really brief friend. I miss him because things like that will go. So I don't know if those are always great for TV, but they, they, they, they, always went left with double A, which was great because he's a master and had done this game. He, he, so.

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I appreciated that time we had together where we could have these far moments, you know? Got you. Now, WrestleMania 42 is coming up April 18th. Yeah. All right. So what should the people expect? Oh, my gosh. It's Allegiant Stadium.

Have you been to Allegiance Stadium? No, I haven't. I've been to Vegas so many times haven't been there. Go. They called the Death Star. Really? Why? Yeah, because it's just a giant black out in the middle of the desert.

I guess it gives like the doom and gloom of the Death Star from Star Wars. But really cool, great place to watch anything. But this year, if you went to last year, it was John Cena versus me, Las Vegas. You had a trip to threat with Seth, Roman and Punk. This year you've got the main event, which is first time punk, C-M-Punk versus Roman-Ranes. And the main event on the other night, myself versus Randy Orden, which is 20, almost, 20 years of real equity between each other. And I think wrestling is always best when it's real.

I know that sounds silly, but yeah, that's a hard one. It's very real for me because this is the guy who brought me into the fold to be part of his faction. This is a guy who I drove from town to town who I watched him in a WrestleMania main event against Triple H in 2009. He was genuinely my mentor in the industry. So to stand across the ring from each other in the biggest match that we do of the year, knowing like, hey, I need you to see me.

Like, I'm not a kid anymore. It's back to that. That makes for great TV. And that great, great matches. And I think I look forward to that moment. But WrestleMania in general, you're going to see, because you mentioned the old. The good thing about it, you get to see the new two. You get to see the young, too.

We're reloading. It's very clear. We're reloading. And that's great. It puts the fire on me, and I like that. But it's the biggest thing we do. It's the best thing we do. If you're ever going to step in, if you don't like wrestling,

If you kind of used to like it, going to a WrestleMania can tell you if this is going to be for you. And I think it's for everybody. How often do, you know, because of course, WWE writes the scripts, how often can a wrestler change that script? It depends.

So, you know, people say, like, script a lot, which is probably, I think we've called it that every now and then it's almost more of just a format. Because now, one of the beautiful things about having these guys who have seasoning is you're not going to write for them. No one's going to write, unless it's an ad read, you don't have to write it for me. I just need to know where this is supposed to go.

I don't want to go off book in a sense of a book my own angle or going to business for myself. But the great ones are always a bit off. And you got to have, like, I always say in the pockets, you've got to have three or four things in the pockets. Because if you're in there with a rock, if you're in there with a John Cena, if you're in there with any of the guys who we talk about here, you've got to have some stuff in the pockets in case. they go left. It's not always great. It's a collaboration. Sure. But going left is fun if the person can keep up and go left with you. Another really great scribe for it in terms of the scripting of it all is the fact that Paul Heyman Hallfamer and Mr. Heyman sits there and he's just got the gift. Silver tongue, just a son of a lawyer, New York City, just the gift. And he's very good if you can't put

the words together. But for me, I don't think I've had a written promo since I came back. Again, unless it's, hey, a specific, hey, ad, ad, read, ESPN unlimited plan, WWB, WrestleMania, you know what I mean? Like, it's, that's specific for me. But it's, it goes wild each night, which is great because the audience, I think, smart fans and you get a lot of the smarter fans in the New York area, they know when it's like, hmm, this is becoming its own thing, huh?

And I love that because that's the, that's the beauty and the best can keep up with each other. So you tell them that's why they come see the seasoned people that. That's right. Hell yeah. I didn't even get mad at the old thing. I was like, but that is the deal. Yeah.

As well. But that is the, that's the deal. And the moment we mentioned, you know, Kit, we mentioned Trick, the moment you're in there

with one of those guys and they can take it with you and they can make that move with you, that's, that's seeing them. That's all. We're going to be okay. Yeah.

We're going to be all right here. And that, that's trust because you want to, you know, for me, like currently being champion and how much this means to me, I want to,

trust when it's when it's when it's when it's when it's when it's when it's when it's when when it's when it's on TV that it's good that people are still coming you know how do you keep your sanity right you you were talking about your family your wife and your kids but you need some family time as well and wrestling fans sometimes are crazy I remember the one story I can't remember the wrestler they chased them followed them and they had to pull over and and just sign an autograph oh yeah that wasn't that uh John Cena John Cena so how do you deal with that with crazy fans when you're just trying to get some family time.

I remember Triple H said there really isn't a work-life balance with this and I think maybe the answer to that is and this probably won't sound the way I mean it's sound

but I bring them into the work right my daughter's got two trips coming up she's going to the beach and then she's going to WrestleMania the one she's most excited about shockingly is going to WrestleMania she's four but she was there

when I picked her up in SoFi the first stadium show I ever remain invented and now I said hi to her at Allegiant last year and she's looking forward to what are we going to do this year I'm going to be in the front row what are we doing this year I try to bring them around it and with my my children I try to explain the importance of the fan that also means every type of fan so there's the diehard fans who you know you've touched and you're lucky as all can be to have there's also the collectors and there's there's there's some who maybe they're the haters, the critics, they're all really, really important. And to me, it's always a yes. It's

always, you know, I can't do it while I'm holding a baby. No, but it's always a yes. Now, here's where there's a little bit of the balance. I'm all about it. The fans are the most important thing we have. And I try to explain it to the children that they provide this. Yeah. This house, that they're part of that, right? My wife, though, is the other side of that. You know what I'm saying? And I think sometimes she just provides a look that helps us a little bit of a deflection. A little bit out of my heart, that's good. I got her. What have you learned about showing up for your wife, Brandy, right?

While doing and sustaining all of that, I remember her talking about like postpartum depression at one point. You know, she's had a very successful career. Like she's first black woman in the ring announcer of WrestleMania 2015. First black woman executive in North America Wrestling Operations, right? And then she becomes a mom and she's very open about how things change for her. How do you step out of your character and just as a husband, her in those type of situations. I think what I've tried to do is everything is, is there's not a, I don't want there to be

value weight on what I do that's not equal to what she does. So this is the biggest season of my life, WrestleMania. Everything is, I, I sleep, training, diet, everything. This is it. But in the same vein, she's doing a huge porch sale at her kid's store, which is in Roswell called Pinkertons. They're the same. I need like, and I don't know if she believes me when I tell her that.

So the only way I can do that is just show it. That there is no like, there's no weight to this. There's no breadwinner in our house or anything like that because we did this together. So that's been the thing. I don't know if it's always, always translates, but that's what I always tried to do to make it very clear that what you do is just as important as what I do. and support those. But the big thing too, and we learned this from wrestling,

is that's yours, right? Like, cool, this is great. Like, let me, this is my thing, but when I came to WWB, a lot of people thought Brandy would come with. And the big part of this was, let's do our own things. Let's do our own things.

Sometimes when you're a couple and you beat each other over the head with it, that's, you know, like, no. It's not good for marriage. No, and it's also, you know, if you're a fan, like, I don't know how I'm a base. be faced in the first place. Bleach blonde hair, wear suits, the American flag on the side of my neck.

I don't know why I haven't gone the other way. Why I'm not a vicious heel. But I can tell you that when you add in this beautiful woman to the, that, less likely that the grown men come of those shows want to cheer for you now. You know what I mean? Like it's really like, ah, the, you know, so we've gone to put spotlights in our own places and separated that way, which has been really good. But it's daily. It's daily, you know. You got to be there. When you came back into the WWE, you said that a decision that she made was the only reason why you were even able to come back. Yeah. Like, what was that?

Like, what happened? I'm trying to think what I meant. Or if I meant something I shouldn't say. You said it's not a story that everyone's going to know, but I wouldn't have been able to come back if she didn't make a very selfless decision that changed my life. Yeah, so I think what I, our departure from when we left the company, we were. were with and helped create and that was AEW. It came down to her deciding to not talk about, right? That departure.

Like, we're not going to talk about it. We're moving on. Did bad stuff happen? Good stuff happened too. Right? I'm not going to talk about it. And one of the sad things about not talking about why we left in the departure, one of the difficult thing was narratives get created.

stories get told podcast happened fans literally think they know what happened where no one's been even close and what I would say is the selfless part she she lives with that

she owns that she respects not just here but the place we left enough to I'm not going to talk about that and that made it so that they're good they're out of here got you Scott for that that was very very helpful for us

and again good stuff happened there too but that's what I mean by selfless because she lives with that and one of the things about that is wrestling fans I mentioned they create a narrative they think they know I had to remind her I'm like hey it's not all the fans and WrestleMania 40 was the prime example of that I said you're gonna come out with me at WrestleMania 40 and I was so happy because the fans reacted like big pop yeah big excitement and I just needed her like kind of nudge her like see like they're the real ones they get it you know what I'm saying like they they they they

They ain't mad at you. And that was very important that she felt it. Because a lot of wrestlers take a step off. They go away or they do something or they screw up, make a mistake, whatever. Then they come back and the fans, like, they always cradle you back in. They're really special. Even tonight, like, I'm not, I'll probably go out in the garden and get booed out of the arena. Wow.

That's okay. That's okay. Because I've been cheered to the heavens in that place before, too. So if that's what you need tonight, I'm here for it. What's your relationship with your brother? I love my brother. Yeah, I love my brother. Yeah, why?

I think he, you know, he's 16 years older than me, so we didn't get as much brother time as we should have when I was growing up. But he does this thing now, which blows my mind because it was never a thing in our family was he shows his dog. He's got his dog. So out of the roads to have performed at Matt. Madison Square Garden. My dad, me, my wife, my brother, and his dog beast. His dog was at the kennel club. It went from Javits to the garden, made it. One group made it to the final round. A beast. He has this giant mastiff. But we didn't do this growing up. So I don't know where it came from. So he's got these three dogs. He took it to England the other day. So it's just funny because

this is Dustin. This is like my hillbilly brother from Austin, Texas, who's got this pristine, perfect dog show dog and that's his thing right now um he's still wrestling the last match i saw him he was he's still moving at an incredible rate um really i always tell people i i know hall of fame is tricky you know you because there's a lot of hall of famers who are deserving of it but we can only put so many in each year um i think that's hopefully a step for him in the future because i think he definitely deserves it for more reasons than just what he put in in the ring he's really done a great job of surviving that era of, you know, where it was a lot more crazy, a lot more rock star. And like to become such a good father, he's a grandfather now, showing dogs.

I love my brother. He was one of my favorite wrestlers, if not my favorite wrestler. I just because he's my brother don't tell. I always say, oh, Sean Michaels is my favorite wrestler. But my brother's up there too. Now, who is on your Mount Rushmore of wrestlers and your Mount Rushmore of wrestling family? So you go with the wrestlers first. Oh, man.

So I usually lie about this question. Why? Because we get asked it a lot. And I'm waiting for some fan to go, hey, he said that guy last week. The reason is because there's so many. And fans get really like sports kita. There's like these aggregate sites. They're going to pick this up and it's the only piece of this interview.

So we had this awesome chat and they're going to go, Cody says Terry Funk on Mount Rushmore. And then like 80 people are going to get mad or get excited. So families, you're saying. Families? Yeah. Families? Yes, Mount Rushmore family. McMan's.

Okay. Hearts, probably. Gams, hearts. I'd put the roads. I'd put the roads. Because we really finished the loop. Yeah. Right?

It's all, like, there's not as much an imbalance. He did all that stuff, and I'm trying to catch up. You know what I mean? Roads. Now, this is where it gets tricky. Okay. So you got the hearts, you get the roads, you get the McMans.

You could put the Guerrero's, for sure. My gosh, you could put the Mysterios now. Ray out there, Dom out there. This is why they need more heads on that mountain, dog. Okay, but I, Guerrero's. I'm trying to pick, though, between Guerrero's. And Mysterios. And then there's other families, too.

Well, then what am I saying, though? I'm ignoring a giant, massive family here because it's so massive, you almost forget. The entire High Chief family. That's Peter Maivia. That's the Rock. That's Roman Raines. That's the Usos, that's Jacob Fatu, that's Naya. That's, that's Trinity.

Like, it's, they run it. They run it. They run it. They run it. That's the biggest one. So I'm going to go, McMans. I'm going to go, I'm going to go, the bloodline, we'll just call them, which is High Chief Peter and Roman and all that.

I'll go roads and I'll go hearts. Okay. Last question for me. We see a lot of times wrestlers put their views into the things that they say. Like we see to a whole cold, and when they put their political views, what are your thoughts on wrestlers? talking about their political views, how they feel and all that. What is your thoughts on that?

I mean, I would probably classify it as a terrible idea. But may I say this? Of course. When there's an issue that needs attention, that the whole world is going, what are we doing here? Somebody say something. There's a lot of times if you're about to go out there with a hot mic, you feel like I should touch this.

Yeah. I should. And maybe you should, right? Maybe you should, because I hear people say, like, well, why would you want half your audience? I don't really think that way. I think I'm reactionary and I think how I think in that moment. Maybe it's helpful to think more strategic and more hell political. I think there's certain things that are views and politics, and they probably aren't great to bring into the narrative.

Because you're telling a story on TV. Maybe you don't need that. But then I think there are things that aren't political, that we should stop acting like, Why is this a big deal? Like Pride Month is, that's not a political thing. Yeah. That's love. Yeah.

We can't, can't do an American Nightmare Skull with the, like, what are we doing here, guys? You know, like those things I think you can move into, that's, we're growing up with all that. We're learning. But I would say from my experience, ever having dropped anything in there that was probably a, that it's not a great. I wouldn't, I wouldn't say. I'd say if anything, it becomes a distraction. Like, if I'm trying to sell this ladder match with you and I, and then I went on something about the modern political climate.

That is what they're going to remember from that promo. Versus that we're trying to climb that ladder and bring down the title. Gotcha. Yeah. You still thinking about running for Senate? Georgia's funny, right? There's Georgia and there's Atlanta, right? And I'm more in the Atlanta orbit, north, like the metro area in terms of, like,

the energy that is Georgia because, like, Valdasta is very different from North Georgia. because the governor's spot in Georgia has always very much intrigued me. But I will be very honest in this moment. I am incredibly unqualified to do so. If I did, anything like that, I would do the best to bring the people around me who are qualified and to help, help, if you got a modicum of fame and I can help somebody and that can help put us somewhere we need to go, then I'm all for it. I love that seat.

I love that spot, especially if I'm surrounded by the right. people and a big thing if I had to get into like a political platform is you got to have a green initiative with all the crazy stuff we still talk about like from our childhood that shouldn't be an issue anymore why are we not talking green initiative we are burning this thing as we go and that's a big one for me if I had to start with anything I'd start there maybe the one area I might be qualified but I don't know who knows I still this is this is what I do now so yeah that is a coolest wedding ring like oh thank you never It looks like the chain, like a chain.

Does your wife have the same type of one? No, no. She didn't like the one I got her. She didn't like it and just went and got a giant. You know like the four Cs of the diamonds? I thought I get like a very nice qualify under all the four Cs. I didn't realize she just wanted like a just a really big rock. Yeah.

So she, after a few years of making it clear I had made the wrong call. When I said, just get it. Yeah. Just get your thing. Yeah. hate your thing and she went got a giant rock and she picked that out for you no this one i picked out i i needed a little retail therapy yeah i before russomani 40 in philly i had gotten taken out of the match so i had won the right to main event rostomani and then because of some other factors i wasn't

in the match anymore so i went on a shopping spree yeah in the bellagio and this was at the tiffany's there and it started as tie pins and it turned into i cleaned up a new ring and then i got the match i wanted in the first place so i had it i was like well At least that was calm for a few hours, yeah. Well, WrestleMania 42 takes place Saturday, April 18th and Saturday, April 19th in Vegas. If you haven't got your tickets, get your tickets. You can stream it live. ESPN Unlimited Plan.

The first hour of night one and night two will broadcast on ESPN 2 and ESPN. And we appreciate you for joining this, man. Thank you guys for having me. That's all right. Thank you. I wish Charlemagne was here so you could slap him with the bell. I know. Just one good time.

I don't know. I don't like them too much. I don't like them too much. Warming up and just smack them with the ring. He's the hill of the room. Yes. Oh, okay. You need that, though.

Only three days a week, not all five. Not all five. Ladies and gentlemen, Cody Rhodes, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Thank you so much. Every day I wake up. The Breakfast Club.

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