Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes recently pulled back the curtain on some of his backstage dynamics with fellow wrestlers, including a unique rule he enforces in his private group chats. Speaking on the latest episode of his What Do You Want to Talk About? podcast alongside NXT’s Ricky Saints, Rhodes revealed a surprising mix of discipline, heart, and humor behind the scenes.
During their candid chat, Cody explained his golden rule when the group begins roasting or joking about others.
“What’s my rule in the group chat, when we say something?” Rhodes asked. “You have to say something nice. We could bury someone for days, but you had to say one nice thing, at least one.”
Rhodes added that the rule helps avoid toxic dynamics and keeps the spirit playful rather than mean-spirited.
“I don’t like gang warfare,” he continued. “I don’t like when it’s all — we all go in on one person who tweeted something dumb or something.”
Ricky Saints chimed in with a hilarious observation, calling out the champ’s own rule-breaking habits.
“I’d like to make an amendment to that rule, though, because I never hear you say something nice first,” Saints joked, earning laughs from Rhodes.
Saints offered his own take on the method — the “sandwich” approach.
“We start positive, then we eat them alive, then we end on a good note. You should always end on a good note, right?”
The conversation then turned unexpectedly sentimental, with Rhodes revealing his habit of sending emotional texts to old WWE colleagues during nights off.
“This is probably an overshare, but I think Miz figured it out,” Rhodes admitted. “I still will, every now and then, get drunk and just text them and tell them how good of wrestlers they are.”
One such moment involved Kofi Kingston, as Rhodes recalled a heartfelt, spontaneous message:
“I remember one night I texted Kofi out of nowhere, just because I was so proud and so happy.”
Cody’s blend of tough love, leadership, and sentimental loyalty paints a deeper picture of the locker room culture he’s helping shape — a mixture of respect, camaraderie, and the occasional roast sandwich.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more insights and behind-the-scenes stories from WWE’s top names.