Cody Rhodes has shared the bittersweet aspect of his upcoming WWE WrestleMania bout.
Last month, in March, John Cena turned heel for the first time in almost two decades at the 2025 Elimination Chamber PLE. Chasing his 17th World title, Cena allied with The Rock and stabbed Rhodes in the back.
Since then, the two have been involved in a heated rivalry. With only a couple of weeks left for WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, The American Nightmare recently opened up on his upcoming bout and discussed the bittersweet aspect of it.
At WrestleMania 41, Cody Rhodes will be in his third consecutive main event at the Grandest Stage of them all. Facing one of his role models at Mania, Rhodes shared his thoughts in an interview with Mark Titus and Brandon Walker on Mostly Sports.
“This one in particular, it’s bittersweet. I’m very much locked into — I know what the rigors of the week are going to be like. I know what the challenges of the Road to WrestleMania are going to be like in these asks that are going to be coming in at the last minute. I’m aware of the extra stresses that come with it, and they’re not stresses at all because you’re aware of them.
I’m happy about my family being there. I’m happy it’s Vegas and wrestling fans [get to] experience Vegas, but it’s bittersweet because John Cena was legitimately, at one point, the dude I drove around for two years and learned everything I possibly could from, and I did it my way. I did it very differently than John might have thought that I would do it, but it’s bittersweet because I have to do what John did during that ‘Super Cena’ run, which is just win.”
He further continued:
“As much as John Cena has made a lot of enemies as of recent, and you mentioned kicking me low, whatever it may be, there’s still an excitement over the fact that he could break Ric Flair is record, that he could get seventeen [WWE Titles], and you’re looking at the guy who stops him from doing that.
So that’s the bittersweet aspect of this. But again, I’m locked in. ‘Mania has been my thing for three years, and four main events, I am incredibly lucky and incredibly blessed. If it ended tomorrow, if the story was truly finished, I’ve had an incredibly lucky, lucky, lucky career, and I’m a product of everyone who’s around me.”
H/t Fightful
Cody Rhodes Believes The Rock Still Has Two Matches Left In Him
Sharing a storied rivalry with The Rock for over one year, the two have been involved in several heated and violent moments. During his interview on Pardon My Take, Cody Rhodes stated that The Rock still has two matches left in the promotion, including one against him.
Ah. He did [pin me last year]. I’m a bit of an ego centric individual that wants his win back. I think he’s due for more than one match and I would love to be penciled in on one of those. Obviously that schedule is as intense as it gets, but he’s still so involved with WWE, he could have easily been the final boss and just kind of taken that as a customary title, but he has really gotten his hands involved in what we’re doing.
Even though we may not like one another, the thing I do like about him is instantly, no matter what he’s done, record-breaking Disney movie, whatever he did that weekend and showed up, when you look at him you can tell — oh, brother is a wrestler. It’s in there. It’s hitting the ropes and what the reaction you can get from doing wrestling moves in the ring and the promo and the interview. I really have enjoyed that connection with him, I’d like to be one of those.
I think he has two matches he has to do. I’m not putting any pressure on anyone, but I think he does — I’d love to see him and his cousin, Roman Reigns ever have this encounter. Maybe it’s the greatest match we never get because timing or whatever it may be and I think we need to finish our own story with him and myself. We’ll see.”
In other news: The backstage reaction to Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton’s off-script is now out.