Cody Rhodes honoured his father, Dusty Rhodes, in his first appearance at Madison Square Garden since becoming the Undisputed WWE Champion.
Cody Rhodes finally finished his story at WrestleMania 40 when he defeated Roman Reigns to win the Undisputed WWE Championship, the title his father never held. However, there was still one more thing The American Nightmare wanted to do that could only be done in the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Cody’s story dated back to 1977, when Dusty Rhodes defeated ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham, who was the WWF Champion at the time. While Dusty grabbed the belt and held it over his head in MSG, it was all taken away from him as the win had come by countout, meaning the championship wouldn’t actually change hands.
On June 8th, SmackDown was held in MSG, and after the show went off the air, Cody came to the ring to pay a special tribute to his father centering around that moment. After explaining the story to the fans in attendance, Rhodes swapped his title for the very belt his father had held aloft almost five decades ago and climbed the turnbuckle himself to bring things full circle as the crowd chanted for Dusty.
“I mentioned it earlier when we came out here. I had a different plan in mind for my return to The Garden. Because it is not just my return to The Garden. For those of you who know this story, this is where it all began. In the late ‘70s, my father, ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes traveled to New York City to wrestle ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham. He was a country boy from Austin, Texas, and for some reason, you guys just loved him.
“Anyways, in this fabled match, Dusty Rhodes defeated ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham. He grabbed what would become this WWE Championship. He climbed that buckle over there, and he held it up. But moments later, they took it away from him.
“It’s okay, this story has a happy ending. I was eight years old, I saw the picture of this title. I knew nothing about the ins and outs of pro wrestling and sports entertainment. All I knew was I wanted to win that title for him. I had always planned on saying the silliest thing to him, but I just wanted to tell him that nobody can take it away from you now.
“So like I said, if you’ll indulge me, I am gonna climb that buckle because I wanna hold up the WWE Championship, but if I could, my cousin [WWE timekeeper] Berkley, you got something in your hands over there? I will trade you.”
Cody Rhodes Explains The Importance Of Having An Open Mind In Wrestling
Cody Rhodes has explained why he thinks veterans need an open mind when it comes to the modern era of wrestling. The star explained that he sees a lot of legends come into modern locker rooms and telling young stars that things they are doing “don’t work” because they have never changed their own mindsets over the years. Rhodes believes that these old-timers would be better to have an open mind, as what works can change. He cited Triple H as an example of a veteran who can see the rules that work and has an open mind on things that have evolved.
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription