Undisputed WWE Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes spoke with ESPN about various topics, including the person who tried to convince him not to compete in his Hell in a Cell match against Seth Rollins while he had a torn pec.
Rhodes said, “Everybody tried to talk me out of it. Everybody. I think this match is — I think company-wise, I don’t think they’d let me in the building anymore if they knew something like this was cooking, solely because I’m a real big toxic believer in, ‘If my legs work, I’m walking to the ring.’ So that’s not how we should be, and WWE’s medical staff is amazing. The only thing I had on my side here was that it was completely torn. The tendon was completely detached from the bone, so no more damage could have been done to it. And that was the big word that kept me in this thing. This also — most people probably figured this out. This wasn’t supposed to be long. I think we went 20-something minutes but this was supposed to be five, six minutes. And a lot of threatening me, which is fair to say, that they had would stop it if it got too far. But I just wanted to do it different. Guys get hurt and they go get cut, they go get surgery. Or guys get hurt and they go out on their back, whatever it may be. I just wanted to do it differently. I had just got started again, and the fandom, particularly the young fans, were starting to really get behind what we were doing. And I didn’t want to let them down. Plus, Chicago, All-State Arena means a great deal to me.”
On how he was able to avoid being talked out of the match:
“I don’t think I really had to say no, as much as I just committed to — I wasn’t going to have the conversation. I had already been brought to Chicago. The idea that I would not be wrestling, that I can’t imagine — I mean, my career would be completely different. But I just wasn’t willing to have the conversation. And I’m not extremely bullish or rude, or aggressive in any type of diplomatic situations. But I was prepared to be on that day, because this was happening. I was wrestling in the main event. We had just got a bunch of new subs for the platform that the show was on at the time. I was not going to not be in the third match between Seth Rollins and myself. Even as I say it now, I still am defending it, as if someone’s telling me I can’t wrestle. Like, ‘I was not.’ But that’s just how I was, and I don’t think anyone could reach me on that day.”
On when he was feeling the maximum pain:
“10 out of 10 pain was really early. WWE doesn’t have pain medication backstage. If anything, they’ve got good old anti-inflammatories. And I couldn’t find the Advil so I think I took four baby aspirin. And it’s — very quickly, I felt the collarbone was really, really in a bad place. Because what was being left of the muscle was reliant on it, and it was pulling down, and how much the swelling and the cramping. But moments in there, even pulling the jacket off was difficult. It’s the most pain I’ve ever been in my life, and it was consistent pain. I remember kind of laughing when I got to the bus after about how bad it was the whole time. Because I thought, ‘Oh, it’ll fade. The adrenaline will wear off, it’ll fade. It didn’t fade.”
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(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
