WIth WrestleMania right around the corner, Cody Rhodes and John Cena are both gearing up for huge matches on the ‘Grandest Stage Of Them All’. Rhodes will challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in Los Angeles, whilst Cena will attempt to dethrone WWE United States Champion Austin Theory at the SoFi Stadium.
Cena returned to RAW recently to confront Theory, and following the war of words he introduced Cody Rhodes to the crowd. The pair shared a hug and some words and Rhodes has recently explained what was said during the exchange.
Cody Rhodes requested match with John Cena during RAW interaction
Speculation fuelled by a recent tweet from ‘The American Nightmare’ had suggested that Cena’s words were about rewarding noise from the audience, however Rhodes corrected the record during a recent interview with Stadium Astro, instead confirming that he had asked the ‘Leader of the Cenation’ for a future match:
“So actually, that was something he told me in the car when I was driving him around in 2008-2009. What he said to me on Raw was, I was telling him if he ever does another match, I would like [to work with him], and I think you could hear him pretty well. He says, ‘I can’t promise that.’ I also didn’t want to make it about myself at that moment, so I just endlessly thanked him, and then he was at the Nightmare Factory a week later talking to our students,”
Rhodes would go on to praise Cena’s approach to Live Event’s and the influence that the attitude had upon him during the early stages of his WWE career:
“That was something in the car that it’s not just his axiom, it was a genuine way he approached live events, and shows was rewarding their noise.
A simpler way to look at that is kids come to a show, and they see their guy hurt, and they see their guy down, and they start clapping, they want something from him. He was a big proponent and always doing something so that they know if they do something, he’ll be up for them or he’ll at least try. I think looking at the flow of a live event, looking at the flow of a premium live event, there is something huge to that because we can’t just do these matches in the ring, bell-to-bell, for each other. We’re doing them for this audience sitting there in the building that night, as well as worldwide on television.
You have to try and step into their shoes. You’re so focused on what you’re doing, sure, but you have to step in their shoes and [think] what do they want, and can I give it to them? Or is it my job to take it away from them? That was just something that always sat with me and, when in practice, always worked.”
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription