WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes has taken aim at Fightful over its coverage of comments made on his podcast, accusing the wrestling news outlet of repeatedly taking his remarks out of context to generate controversial headlines.
During an interview with WrestleTalk, Rhodes addressed the reaction to comments he previously made on his What Do You Want To Talk About? podcast regarding the use of terms such as “the Fed” and “New York” when referring to WWE.
The subject came up when the interviewer mentioned Rhodes’ apparent dislike of those expressions, prompting him to clarify that his original remarks were intended as a joke about fellow wrestlers rather than criticism of wrestling fans.
“I remember I said it in jest about wrestlers who say it. And the way Fightful tries to cancel me every week, and the way they baited it was as if I said it to wrestling fans. Wrestling fans, there’s no wrong way to be a fan. You can say ‘the Fed’ you can say ‘New York.’ I blink out when I meet an indie wrestler who says it to me because that’s, uh, ‘Okay, cool. All right. You haven’t wrestled there either.’ But that was more the joke I was making. I feel bad for the producers because that happens every week. Fightful just, ‘Oh, we’ve got to make a headline about how Cody hates…’ This show is a fun show, a conversation, and their efforts to bring me down have only kind of made me, uh, I don’t know, I feel more bulletproof just ’cause, ‘All right, I’ll ride through it.’”
Rhodes emphasized that he has no issue with fans using traditional wrestling terminology, explaining that his original comments were directed at independent wrestlers who casually refer to WWE by those names despite never having worked for the promotion.
He also expressed frustration with how remarks from his podcast are presented in wrestling media coverage, suggesting that casual conversations are sometimes turned into headlines that misrepresent his intentions.
Despite his criticism of Fightful, Rhodes indicated that the attention has made him more resilient rather than discouraging him from speaking openly.
The WWE star maintained that What Do You Want To Talk About? is intended to be an entertaining, conversational podcast, rather than a platform for making controversial statements about wrestling fans.
