Cody Rhodes talks about not holding back on The Rock even though he has a lot of respect for him. Rhodes has finished his story and climbed to the top of the mountain. Along the way he ran into a big roadblock in the form of the WWE legend The Rock. This also may have shown what WWE will be like from this point on.
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Cody Rhodes was recently a guest on SI Media with Jimmy Traina. During the podcast Rhodes talked about how his respect didn’t get in the way of going at Rock full force and specifically not being PG with The Rock.
“I think it’s a situation where, like I even said earlier how much respect I have for The Rock. It gets to a point, though, where you can’t have so much respect that you put your hands down. And I had been really diplomatic. … It wasn’t so much that it wasn’t working with the fans. I don’t think it was resonating with him.”
Via Wrestling Inc.
The Rock Wanted His Match With The Tribal Chief
The Rock wanted to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania and was not happy when Cody Rhodes challenged Reigns instead of Seth Rollins. This took The Rock from this lovable movie star to a vicious heel. Rock didn’t hold back in his attacks on Rhodes, both verbal and physical attacks. It escalated to Rock whipping Rhodes with a weight belt and leaving him a bloody mess on RAW.
Rhodes could have cowered, let The Rock dominate him and rescind his challenge to Reigns. However, Rhodes stepped up his game and met Rock at his level.
Cody Rhodes Not Holding Back
One of the key parts to meeting Rock at his level was Rhodes not holding back his words in his promos. Rock went far beyond the normally accepted language of what we would normally hear on WWE TV. This included a lot of curse words from Rock, so Rhodes pushed the limits as well in his promos.
Rhodes talked about how being diplomatic was not getting through to the Rock. He talked about one promo which got under Rock’s skin and pushed the feud to the next level. It contained a comment about Rock’s little Rocky Maivia between his legs.
“The one interview I did. I was wearing a black suit I remember. That’s where the LDS (little d*** syndrome) comment is. All of that going in, called him a carney. I wanted to just speak his language. He came from that era of that cutthroat, crash TV. He’s been in every era, but I wanted to just speak his language and let him know someone, if not a few people on this current roster can speak your language, if you’d like.”
Not A Role Model For The Little Nightmares In That Moment
Rhodes is proud of the reaction his promo got from the fans and it made Rock take him more seriously. However, he also revealed that he felt guilty after his LDS comment. Despite cursing and saying all kinds of in his words “ridiculous’ stuff in the past, his WWE run has been different. He described his WWE run as being thus far much more family friendly. His concern was for his young fans asking their parents about LDS and setting a bad example.
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Rhodes went on to have a mixed WrestleMania weekend as far as his wins. On Saturday he and Rollins lost their tag match against Rock and Reigns. Their loss made Rhodes’ following night much more difficult as it made his match with Reigns a Bloodline Rules match which meant no DQ.
However, Rhodes was able to overcome the challenges and was able to finish the Rhodes family story. His story with Reigns may be over for the time being, but it isn’t over with The Rock. When The Rock returns from Hollywood he will get his revenge on Rhodes.
Is WWE Going In A New Direction?
Rhodes has been labeled the face of the new Triple H era of WWE. Part of this new era seems to be a departure from the hated PG era of WWE. Cursing and a more mature way of cutting promos will be more common as evidenced by Rock and CM Punk both cursing in recent weeks. Also, blood will be back on WWE TV as Rock busted Rhodes open on that episode of RAW. Adding things like this is a return to some of what made the Attitude era so beloved.
Do you think Cody Rhodes was able to move up to The Rock’s level? Was being more vulgar and talking about LDS the right way to get there? Would you like to see cursing be common on WWE TV or should it be used sparingly? What about blood? Do you think WWE will move more towards a more mature product? Is that a good direction? Let us know on social media what other Attitude era elements you would like to see WWE bring back.
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Sources: SI Media with Jimmy Traina, Wrestling Inc.
