Cody Rhodes Calls Out Obsession With Attendance and Ratings in Wrestling

Cody Rhodes thinks wrestling fans may be reaching a breaking point when it comes to how much backstage and insider information is constantly flooding the internet.

While speaking on What Do You Wanna Talk About? alongside Kit Wilson, Rhodes opened up about how overwhelming the nonstop coverage surrounding WWE and the wrestling business has become — especially when it comes to attendance figures, ratings discussions, and constant online analysis. Cody admitted that while the internet creates accountability, it also creates pressure and information overload.

“It’s scary, and then just—it’s scary, but it also holds you accountable. I guess I, I’m in my head on some of the things as of late about every single piece of WWE right now and every wrestling company.”

From there, Cody Rhodes explained that he believes the constant need to post every detail online could eventually have the opposite effect on fans.

“Somebody needs to share and put it out there. And I think what’s going to happen is an overload of information to where fans just stop caring.”

That’s where the conversation shifted toward the kind of discourse Rhodes feels has become excessive. He specifically pointed to constant discussion about attendance and internal metrics as examples of information he believes regular viewers simply don’t need in order to enjoy wrestling.

“Like, I watch the show. I like the show. I like this guy. I don’t like that guy. I like her. I like—I don’t need to know how many people were in the seats.”

Rhodes then questioned why so much focus has shifted toward tracking every statistic and business metric surrounding wrestling.

“I don’t know who’s keeping all these records, but I’m getting tired of—what? What do we need this for, you know? Like, what? Who’s this for? This seems like it’s doing great, you know?”

Kit Wilson agreed with that perspective and explained that even as a hardcore wrestling fan growing up, he never cared about insider discussions or ratings talk.

“As a teenager, you know, as a massive fan—as a kid, I was a massive fan—I was taking in every bit of content. But what never really clicked with me was, you know, the internet ratings, all these kind of slightly insider things.”

Wilson added that for him, the focus was always the wrestlers and the actual product on screen — not the business analysis surrounding it.

“That was never relevant to me as a teenager because I just enjoyed what was happening on the show, and I wanted to know about the wrestlers.”

Rhodes closed that portion of the discussion by noting that he’s deeply invested in the entertainment properties he enjoys himself, but there’s still a difference between being a fan and becoming consumed by every backstage detail.

“I’m really into all the IPs that I enjoy, different shows I like, stuff like that.”

Bottom line — Cody Rhodes believes wrestling discourse may be heading toward a point where too much insider information starts hurting fan engagement instead of helping it, and Kit Wilson clearly sees things the same way from a fan perspective.

Do you think wrestling fans know too much about the business now, or has insider coverage made the industry more interesting than ever? Let us know your thoughts.

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