Cody Rhodes on ‘WrestleMania’ Loss to Roman Reigns: ‘I Was Surprised How Pissed People Were’

WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes opens up about surprising loss to Roman Reigns at ‘WrestleMania.’

Many wrestling fans and people in the wrestling world expected Cody Rhodes to end Roman Reigns’s lengthy title run at WrestleMania last April.

Rhodes had a great story in that he was not happy with his status in WWE, left the company, dominated the independent scene, helped start AEW and then returned to WWE a monster fan favorite. Oh, and he also happens to be the son of one of the most legendary pro wrestlers of all time in Dusty Rhodes.

But Reigns got the 1-2-3 on Rhodes at WrestleMania, and the WWE universe was shocked. And upset. Very upset.

Rhodes opened up about the reaction to his defeat on the latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina.

“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,” Rhodes said on the podcast. “It’s not unlike if you have a traumatic experience in your personal life. 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. Was to get up. And then I wanted to make a point that I was not gonna 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 O.K. It’s going to be O.K.’

“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.

"And then my world filled up 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, move it forward.’ Hopefully defeating Brock Lesnar, and without saying anything, without doing this little number around the wait, 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.”

When asked whether he was surprised at all by how surprised and angry the WWE universe was that he didn’t win the belt that night, Rhodes didn’t pull any punches.

“I was surprised at how pissed people were,” Rhodes said. “And I was surprised that a lot of managerial people in the company reached out to me, checking on me, and also reached out to me to let me know like, ‘Don’t go online. Don’t go online.’ And I didn’t even think to go. It’s such an incredibly busy week, there are so many emotions in that experience, I got my family with me at the time, I lost in front of them, which is another level of embarrassment. I didn’t even think to go online. Just the fact that they were preparing me and like battening down the hatches for ‘This is shaky. People are really frustrated.’ That surprised me. That surprised me a lot.”

Other topics covered with Rhodes on the podcast include the new Peacock documentary about his life, American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes, how Vince McMahon recruited him back to WWE, a possible story line with Triple H, his relationship with his father, Dusty Rhodes, and the popularity of his theme song, his midlife crisis, fast food restaurants, why he always wears suits, how often he has to dye his hair, why he can’t show his feet, his rules for joining TikTok, whether he will see Barbie and Oppenheimer, his issues with Twitter and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch Cody Rhodes’s full interview on SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.