Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, known as “The American Nightmare,” appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet to discuss various topics, including the use of the Raheem line.
Rhodes said, “It came up randomly. I was never, ever going to touch it, as I probably shouldn’t. I was never going to touch it. I think I’ve kind of expressed this. I felt like there was this natural, sometimes people watch the show and they’re watching and they’re just entertained, and they don’t tweet about it and they don’t post about it. Other times, there’s people watching more from the they’re deeply invested, and they’re invested in the behind-the-scenes nature of it, and we have Unreal. This is all our own design, right? I think there was some more on the latter side, who thought he’s got to reply to what CM Punk and Roman had said about the WWE Championship or about the A show. He’s got to reply to that. I wanted to make it very clear I was not going to be replying to that. I’m not going to spend my time heading towards WrestleMania in Allegiant Stadium, talking seriously about that, so that was my way around it. Hey, if we’re going to make this measuring contest, well, I didn’t get this nickname for no reason, and I stand by it. I stand by what I said. I stand by it. I am actually glad, though, because we could have kept going as far as the next thing you know, Punk could be out there. That’s not what we needed. I needed a one-and-done on this little bit, and here’s something funny about it, though, I chose to say that on the night that I debuted a youth kids t-shirt. I am wearing the kids t-shirt when I said it, so my hypocrisy was on full display. The first time ever WWE said, this is the youth only line, because we had a lot of kids who wanted the Nightmare stuff and not the skulls, so I needed to wear it. But that also was the night I said that. So again, my hypocrisy on full display. I’m a complicated man.”
On how long he intends to continue wrestling:
“I don’t have a number on it anymore. I know that the next deal I do will be my last as far as a full-time wrestler. Sometimes, when you take things, and I think I’m doing this right now, and you use them to your advantage where you’re like, I need to do this for this, but really it might be for you. We talked about Liberty earlier. She’s known nothing but WrestleMania main events. She literally thinks what I do for a living is WrestleMania. That’s what I do for a living. Leilani is only six months old, so in my mind, I owe her a few more of these. That’s silly. That’s me doing it for me, or maybe it is a little bit of both. I’ll know, and you know who else will know? The audience. They’ll know. I don’t even know if the kids say this anymore, washed. I’ll know, because your mind is your greatest asset as a pro wrestler. I was a big Hogan fan through every era, but if you look back at Hogan in black and white, Hollywood Hogan, a master just up here in terms of the psychology of a live audience and what they came to play with and my dad said something on commentary once that absolutely pulled my heart into my stomach. It just hit me so hard. But he was talking about Hogan, and this is the middle of deep kayfabe. He’s talking about Hogan, he said, ‘No man has captured the imagination of the audience like that guy.’ I thought that’s what I want to do. They came here for something, and if they’re booing, they came here to boo. If they’re cheering, they came here. I want to capture their imagination the best I can, and you can when you have the experience I have. And again, got to wrestle my angel on my shoulder last year, and John Cena gets to wrestle the devil on my shoulder this year in Randy Orton. If I can’t do anything with that, well then I’m a real dick. You know what I’m saying? I’m sorry, if I can’t do anything with that, then I’m selfish, then I’m not here to give back to the industry, so I need to do that as well. But you’ll know, you’ll know.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
