WWE Raw star and a former two times WWE Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes who is also the winner of the men’s Royal Rumble match of 2023 recently talked about his reaction of becoming a locker room leader in WWE and he also talked about what he learned from John Cena.
Cody Rhodes started his professional wrestling career back in 2006 at a very young age. He had been a WWE enhancement talent and from the very first day of joining the promotion he had been extremely impressive. However, he has always been treated as a mid card in WWE.
Cody Rhodes Reflects On Becoming A Locker Room Leader And Learning From John Cena
He managed to win some titles in the promotion, however, they were all mid card titles. In 2016 he decided to leave WWE and it never seen like he would ever return to the promotion again. 2019 he joined the newly founded Pro wrestling promotion which was the AEW. Here also he managed a mid card level.
Finally in 2022 he made his return to WWE during WrestleMania 38 as the surprise opponent for Seth Rollins. For the first time in his wrestling career he was treated as a main event star. Earlier this year he won the men’s Royal Rumble match and challenged Roman Reigns on the main event of WrestleMania 39 for the WWE Undisputed Universal Heavyweight Championship.
Cody Rhodes who is also the winner of the men’s Royal Rumble match of 2023 recently spoke to My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox where he talked about his reaction of becoming a locker room leader in WWE and he also talked about what he learned from John Cena. He said;
“I’ll tell you, so you mentioned, John Cena. John’s the ultimate role model, as far how he conducted himself, whether it was with the media, with the fans, the good fans, the more unruly fans, everything, I mean, he’s the ultimate role model. And before he became a bus guy, I got to drive him around a little bit and he was just talking but I was in my mind writing everything down that he was saying.
“He was really invaluable as a person to be around. So blown away by how he’s doing and what he’s doing. But I think, if you try to copy what he did, everyone’s got to do it their own way and I think my style, if I ever was to be somebody that was a locker room leader would just be the lead by example.
“I know because of my time in management and being an executive, as beneficial as that was to me and as educational as it was to me, sometimes it’s easier to lead by example, really versus telling them this is going to work or being so adamant that they need to do this and need to do that because everybody is different.
“There is no true formula for success in sports entertainment and in pro wrestling, you know when your hear it, when they’re reacting, boos and cheers included in that. I think for me, I probably do it my way if I ever am in that spot and I kind of am. But, yeah, I’d like to do it my way. I loved how he did it. Dude was in his jean shorts and his shirt all show.
“The best thing I get from him that I tell the kids at The Nightmare Factory all the time is, don’t cover your ears, right, even if there’s like this small little rumble, he would always do something to reward their participation as a crowd, he would really make them interactive without letting them know they were interactive.” said Cody Rhodes.
“And then the roar would be a little louder each time. It’s the Cena Rule, as we call it at The Nightmare Factory, if they’re doing something, you need to do something, doesn’t mean you gotta take it home or rush it, but you need to reward their noise. And I think that came from a sense in his time and I’m like psychoanalyzing why he felt this way, but I think it came from a sense of he was coming on the heels of giants, Rock, Austin and probably didn’t want to lose any bit of that participation.”
H/T and transcribed by WrestlingHeadlines.com