Cody Rhodes believes his mother has something many wrestlers don’t—decades of firsthand experience living the business. Looking back at WrestleMania 40, Rhodes made the surprising claim that Mama Rhodes is actually more qualified than a lot of people who have stepped into the ring.
Speaking on Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals, Cody reflected on how The Rock’s Final Boss character repeatedly targeted Mama Rhodes during their WrestleMania 40 feud, even promising to make her cry after putting Cody’s blood on his weight belt. Cody was quick to point out that Rock never accomplished that.
“Yep, she never cried on that belt. No. I bled on it, but she never cried on that belt.”
Asked how his mother became such an important part of the story, Cody explained that it wasn’t something that was ever formally planned. Instead, he believes it happened naturally because of the deep history between the Rhodes and Johnson families.
“I think there’s just a huge amount of reality with what happened at WrestleMania 40… The Final Boss, which is one of the best characters—and it’s really untapped—that not only he ever did, but wrestling’s ever had. Our families have been linked for longer than people see… He always was going to target her. They have a relationship. And then my mom and his mom have a relationship.”
Cody then made perhaps the biggest statement of the interview, arguing that although Mama Rhodes never trained to wrestle or wanted to be an on-screen personality, she’s actually more qualified than many people in the business because she spent decades living the wrestling life alongside Dusty Rhodes.
“So once Mama Rhodes became a thing, it’s now—it’s like her character that she never wanted or had. But I realized that WrestleMania 40 and beyond, even though she never wanted to play a character, even though she never trained to be a wrestler, she’s more qualified to be a wrestler than I could name a lot of wrestlers because she lived it. She breathed it. So there should—if Dusty can’t be here, that’s the character.”
Later in the interview, Cody explained that his mother initially had no interest in being on camera. But once she became part of the story, she quickly embraced it and even started coming up with ideas herself.
“Like we talked about Mama Rhodes earlier. This is a lady who was just holding down the fort at the house, you know? She was never meant to want to be in front of the camera, anything of that nature. And then, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that. Sounds great. I’ll sit in the front row. He can talk to me. Yeah. Like, oh, what if I said this to him?’”
For Cody, the reason Mama Rhodes connected so well on WWE television wasn’t because she was acting. It was because she’d already spent a lifetime living the wrestling business, and in his eyes, that experience makes her more qualified than plenty of people who actually call themselves professional wrestlers.
Do you agree with Cody Rhodes that decades of living the wrestling business can make someone as qualified as stepping into the ring? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
