Undisputed WWE Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes spoke with Casino Guru about various topics, including the best advice he received from WWE legend “The Viper,” Randy Orton.
Rhodes said, “Probably the best advice, which is a common expression in our business, but really has kind of stood the test of time with Randy, is ‘Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.’ When you know how to tell a story, and when you know how to grab that mic and connect with the audience, that’s something that’s really been honest and true with me as I’ve grown at WWE and continue to grow. There’s a lot of advice I definitely could not include in an interview, but I can certainly say his voice is in my head a great many nights when I’m out there. Because so much of what he said would happen, or could happen, in certain scenarios as a pro wrestler on any given night, have happened for me. And I had a very good teacher.”
On Orton being in the GOAT conversation:
“No matter how poorly he’s handled certain things with me, I do think Randy should be in the G.O.A.T. conversation,” Rhodes said. “G.O.A.T. is used a lot in a funny way. But if you’re really looking at who’s the greatest of all time consistently, and you ask yourself about somebody like a John Cena, you talk about a Ric Flair, you talk about a Hulk Hogan, a Triple H, a Shawn Michaels. You have to also bring into account Randy Orton, for not just the accolades of being the youngest world champion of all-time, but consistency is key. Randy has consistently captured the imagination of the audience since he was in his early 20s, and here he is still doing it, and deservingly so, going into a WrestleMania main event. That has to be somebody’s G.O.A.T.”
On his next WWE contract:
“I’m thinking that contract could be three years, it could be five, it could be seven, but that will probably be the last one, just because I’ve never robbed the bank with any of my contracts. I’ve never believed in that. But I’m now at the age, with enough data behind me, that I can feel really good about whatever that day’s pay is. And when that’s over, I feel like I owe it to my girls, who are four and seven months — Liberty and Leilani — I owe it to them that they have a full-time dad when the full-time wrestling is through.”
On appearing in Street Fighter 2 along with Roman Reigns:
“I’m very excited about Street Fighter, which is coming out in October, and I’d like to continue to tell stories in the TV and film space while I do this at WWE, and because of WWE’s current president, Nick Khan, that option is now available to me. If I could take a page from Randy in terms of career objectives, it’s to continue to capture the imagination of the audience. And who knows? You can’t be a good guy forever, either. That’s something I think people mistakenly always say I’m against. I’m not against anything if it’s meaning WWE fans have the best time.”
