The Journey Back to WrestleMania Continues at SummerSlam for Cody Rhodes

Ahead of his bout against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, Cody Rhodes is ready to show why belongs back in the main event of next year's WrestleMania

SANDY SPRINGS, GA – Only days away from one of the most significant matches of his career, Cody Rhodes’ tour bus is on its way to Detroit, Michigan.

Like Roman Reigns, as well as John Cena and Randy Orton before him, Rhodes travels primarily on his state-of-the-art bus. His plan is to power into the Motor City and defeat Brock Lesnar this Saturday at SummerSlam. If executed properly, this will stand as the single biggest victory of Rhodes’ career.

Yet on this day, sipping on an espresso and sitting at his rolling home’s kitchen table, Rhodes is not thinking solely about Lesnar. The task in front of him includes Lesnar, whom he has been feuding with since the night after WrestleMania 39, but not Lesnar alone. It is all part of a plan to return to the main event of WWE’s signature show at WrestleMania 40, and this time defeat Reigns to become undisputed champion.

Just three months removed from headlining WrestleMania, Rhodes has precious few highlights to share from the experience. His coronation was interrupted when he was pinned by Reigns. Despite outside interference from Solo Sikoa and words of encouragement after the match from Vince McMahon and Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the bitter taste from that loss continues to linger.

“I haven’t done what I came to do,” says Rhodes. “At least I haven’t yet.”

A WrestleMania moment that Rhodes simply cannot shake is what followed after he was pinned. Everywhere he looked, disappointment followed.

“For me, it felt like all the air was sucked out of that building,” says Rhodes. “I felt like the color of my tan left my skin.

“In that moment, everywhere I looked, I saw disappointment. Crying. Sadness. I saw one guy in the crowd with every piece of merch on looking so dejected. That’s when I told myself, I had to get up. There wasn’t going to be a standing ovation, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t be a sore loser.”

Without the benefit of any championship gold placed around his waist, Rhodes decided to exit the same way he entered.

“You learn a lot when you lose,” says Rhodes. “And since I was a kid, I’ve lost plenty of times. So I refused to take ‘Loser’s Lane’, which is the alley to the side of the ramp. I walked all the way up the ramp, and told myself I was going to work to get back there. Again, it felt like all of the air had been sucked out of the building.”

Ever since that night, as Reigns has enjoyed a record-breaking reign as champion, Rhodes has plotted his return. A seminal moment happens this weekend, as a lofty victory against Lesnar–a man who has headlined multiple WrestleManias and even ended the seemingly unbreakable winning streak of The Undertaker–will help Rhodes seize momentum as he attempts to be the premier challenger for a second straight year.

“The WrestleMania finish, it finished in a way that signaled it was the end,” says Rhodes. “It wasn’t the end for me. Getting back is the most difficult thing imaginable. Being in the WrestleMania main event is like being elected president.”

No different from politics, where it is extraordinarily difficult to beat the incumbent, Rhodes was defeated by a savvy, seasoned champion and the brilliant team that surrounded him.

“I felt all of that loss,” says Rhodes. “If I didn’t, I’d be doomed to repeat it. There was nothing Vince or Hunter could say that would make me feel better. They’ve lived on the edge of the lightning bolt. Hunter has been in a WrestleMania main event and won. Of course, Vince, the chairman, he built the yard and created WrestleMania, the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. I was receptive and grateful to what they had to say, but I didn’t want to speak with anyone. I really didn’t speak with anyone.

“It was a long walk out of that building, and I needed that. On the other side waiting for me was my family. I couldn’t show up to them defeated, even if I just was defeated. A lot of good people tried really hard to make me feel better by telling me I main-evented WrestleMania. But I can’t pretend. I can’t jump for joy. I knew there was a main event and I was there, but it wasn’t mine.”

In varying ways, shapes, and forms, loss is inevitable. Instead of attempting to fight that indisputable quality, Rhodes is using his defeats as inspiration for his future. His new WWE-produced documentary, American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes, offers a genuine look at his fighting spirit.

Airing on Peacock, an integral part of Rhodes’ story is his relationship with his father, Dusty Rhodes. This allows viewers a rare chance to hear Rhodes’ intimate feelings of grief over losing his father, and how his legendary pop continues to impact him.

“I thought so much about him at WrestleMania,” says Rhodes. “I thought about how quiet he would have been because it was really happening. He believed it would happen. At the very end of his life, when I was Stardust, that is when he had his first doubts. I am glad I was able to shake the doubts. He was my number-one supporter and always believed it would happen, and it did.”

The film details Rhodes’ ongoing journey back to the main event of WrestleMania. Along the way, Rhodes will have plenty of company. If Roman Reigns enters into the ring for the main event as champion, Seth Rollins would certainly like to be standing across from him. Kevin Owens, no doubt, would, too. Or Drew McIntyre. Or Sikoa. Or Jey Uso. Or Sami Zayn. Or Finn Balor. And the list goes on.

Rhodes believes his trajectory is destined to “finish the story” and win the championship at WrestleMania 40. Even with the roadblocks obstructing his path, Rhodes has overcome the odds before.

Who ever could have imagined that footage from The Young Bucks’ trademark Being The Elite show would appear on Peacock? Yet that is exactly what happens in the film, which uses footage with the permission of the Bucks.

“In 2023, had we revised any part of my story, then it would have been a big lie,” says Rhodes. “You can’t revise the story. Matt and Nick Jackson have to be part of it. [Director] Matt Braine understood how important it was for me to tell this story accurately. The Bucks and Kenny [Omega], my story will forever be attached to them. They may never step foot in WWE, but without us coming together, the business would be very different. A lot of wrestlers are doing very well because of it, and the whole industry has changed because of it.”

That maverick spirit is a characteristic Rhodes inherited directly from his father. Just as his father was a wrestling revolutionary, Rhodes’ ambition knows no end. There is a considerable stretch between SummerSlam and WrestleMania, a distance that can be bridged with compelling promos, stories, and matches on television every week.

“I want to do things my father never did,” says Rhodes. “I know it seems so bold, but that’s my attitude. That’s the way my father was, and that’s what he instilled in me. Getting 10,000 people for a non-WWE show at All In [in 2018]? Helping start a new company? That’s what my father taught me. That’s what is in me.”

Rhodes’ goals are not all inside the ring. He also wants to honor his family, just as he did alongside half-brother Dustin Rhodes when they inducted their father into the WWE Hall of Fame.

“I would like to induct Dustin into the Hall of Fame,” says Rhodes. “I would also never turn down an opportunity to team with him again, and we’ve had an even better experience wrestling against each other.”

An all-time great moment in wrestling happened when Cody and Dustin Rhodes wrestled each other at AEW’s first-ever pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, in the spring of 2019. The special on Peacock omits that WWE punted on that very same encounter four years prior, effectively ending the Goldust-Stardust program at Fastlane in 2015 before it had a chance to leave a lasting imprint at WrestleMania 31. The bloodbath in AEW elevated Cody to a whole new tier of stardom, and also served as a reminder of the timeless brilliance of Dustin.

“It’s a very unique brotherhood,” says Rhodes. “Dustin’s an all-time great. I’m not saying he’s going anywhere, but he won’t be here forever. I hope people appreciate that he is still trying to go at the highest level and trying to pass his knowledge on, and I would jump at the chance to do one more thing with him. To induct him in the Hall of Fame, which is so well deserved on his part–and Arn Anderson. Arn is blood in his own way. I’d love to do more with Dustin and Arn.”

Very few guarantees exist in this world, and that principle also crosses over into pro wrestling. Capturing lightning in a bottle for a second straight year will be enormously difficult for Rhodes, but that is part of the excitement of the task is undertaking.

Can Rhodes follow through on his vow to finish the story and win the WWE title? Watching it unfold, beginning with a massive bout this Saturday at SummerSlam against Lesnar, will be nothing short of fascinating.

“In the world of entertainment, some things are fictional,” says Rhodes. “With this, you’re seeing something 100 percent real. Even Paul Heyman, and we’re not friends by any means, I heard him say once, ‘One of the things that keeps people cheering for Cody is that he’s honest with them.’ I’ve learned to be honest with them. Times in the past, if I wasn’t, they let me know.

“That’s why people should believe. I will remain honest with them. This isn’t just trying to dethrone a guy who has his own era blocked out from how much time he has held the title, and I’m taking the roads to do it.”

Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.