Cody Rhodes Admits He Has Felt Stuck Since WWE WrestleMania 39 Loss

WrestleMania 39 was meant to be the biggest night of Cody Rhodes' career, with the ‘American Nightmare’ seemingly destined to ‘finish the story’ and defeat Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. However, Rhodes became just another victim of ‘The Tribal Chief’.

Since Mania, Rhodes has been engaged in a war with Brock Lesnar, and ahead of a third showdown with ‘The Beast Incarnate’ at SummerSlam 2023, Rhodes revealed on the SI Media podcast how he’s felt ‘stuck’ since Mania:

“I feel you have moments in your career where you get stuck in them, whether they're so good or whether they're so low, that you get stuck in these moments. It's not unlike if you have a traumatic experience in your personal life,” said Rhodes. “For me, I felt, and I still do three months removed, very stuck. In that there was a very long period of time where I was sitting in the ring. I knew I was sitting in the ring and knew I had lost. I'm watching people not leave. They're looking at me. They're looking at me and they're either frustrated, they're sad for me, they're mad at me. But you usually see at the end of the night some people heading for the aisles. They're going to beat traffic, something. We were just stuck. And I knew we were filming me. And the internal monologue I had when I saw my family at ringside, then I saw some of the most diehard fans fully decked out in every piece of merch for me they could have possibly bought, the internal monologue was really just telling myself to get up. And then I wanted to make a point that I was not going to walk what we call 'loser lane.' I'm going to walk all the way back up this 70-yard ramp and I want to feel every bit of this loss.

“Whether you look at what we do as from an entertainment standpoint or true sport, however you do, it was a huge loss. Huge. And I wanted to feel it all the way because I didn't want to go see my wife afterwards and just be destroyed or distraught or in a bad mood or have some tantrum. I wanted it all to happen right then and there. Just take it in, feel it, look everyone in the eyes that you possibly can. That was a big thing for me. I was trying to look as many people in the eyes as I possibly could in my best way of saying to them, 'It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay.'"

Rhodes continued, noting how he didn’t want consoling from friends and peers alike:

“And I had to mentally prepare for the amount of, 'Oh my gosh, but you main evented WrestleMania.' 'Oh dude, you main evented WrestleMania.' I kept hearing, 'You already won.' And even some of my close friends, I wanted to just jab right in the jaw. Like, no. All I found out from main eventing a WrestleMania is I want to do it again and I have to win. Like it's a sickness, you know? Like, you got this high and for it to go like that -- I can't accept it. I can't allow it,” said Rhodes.

Cody hopes he can become ‘unstuck’ after his SummerSlam clash with Lesnar, and refocus on his mission:

“And then my world filled up right the next day, I jump into the thing with Brock Lesnar. So again, I feel like I'm stuck. I'm stuck there. I'd love SummerSlam to be the moment that's like, 'Hey, moving forward. Hopefully defeating Brock Lesnar. Moving forward.' And without saying anything. Without doing the old 'this little number' around the waist. Let them know, the thing I came back for, we're still on the path. We're still on the path. And I want to be confident about it in the best of ways because you rode with me all the way to WrestleMania in Los Angeles and hopefully they can ride with me to wherever it is and wherever we go next.”

H/T: F4W Online

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