Cody Rhodes has seen plenty of wrestlers get fired up when someone calls professional wrestling “fake,” but that’s not a fight he’s interested in having. Instead of immediately pointing to injuries or trying to convince someone how real wrestling can be, Cody would rather focus on the very real reaction fans have to what happens in the ring.
The topic came up as Cody was explaining kayfabe to Andrew Schulz and how difficult it can sometimes be for people outside the wrestling world to understand where the performance ends and reality begins. He’s seen interviews take a turn pretty quickly once someone drops what he jokingly called the “F-word.”
“I’ve seen several times when you can tell a wrestler instantly — especially when it’s a split-screen interview — when somebody drops the F-word in there, and then a wrestler will be like, ‘Well, I broke my neck.’”
Cody understands why wrestlers react that way, especially considering the very real physical toll that comes with the job. It’s just not the approach he personally likes to take when someone questions wrestling’s legitimacy.
“I’m never that one, though. I’m never that one. Yeah, I’ve seen several times when you can tell a wrestler instantly — especially when it’s a split-screen interview — when somebody drops the F-word in there, and then a wrestler will be like, ‘Well, I broke my neck.’ And they get all…”
Instead, Cody takes what he described as a softer approach. He doesn’t need to argue about whether the match itself is “real” when the emotions fans experience watching it absolutely are.
“I typically take a softer approach to the feeling you have when you come to an event is a real feeling. It’s a real feeling, man. And that’s usually why I don’t ever use the F-word in that regard.”
There’s another reason Cody doesn’t like getting defensive about it. Once a wrestler gets hung up on proving wrestling isn’t fake, he thinks the actual interview can quickly grind to a halt.
“But also, that’s where wrestling interviews sometimes can go to die.”
When the host suggested that wrestlers sometimes just need to let the subject go, Cody agreed. Getting dragged into an argument isn’t going to accomplish much if it kills the rest of the conversation: “You got to let it go.”
Cody then brought up Mike Tyson as an example of just how quickly an interview can suddenly become genuinely confrontational. He recalled the infamous moment when Tyson turned on an interviewer and called him a “rat.”
“Yeah. Like, you remember when Tyson got interviewed and all of a sudden called that guy a rat? Do you remember that?”
After watching the Tyson clip, Cody came back to his own philosophy. He’d rather keep his cool and, if the opportunity presents itself, drop a good wrestling sound bite without letting the entire interview turn into an argument.
“Yeah. But it did — that’s again where a lot of wrestling interviews can go to die. I always just, you know, try and keep the composure. If there’s an opening to put my little sound bite in there, great.”
Cody isn’t trying to convince every skeptic that wrestling is something it isn’t. For him, the better argument is what fans actually feel when they’re watching it, and he’d rather let that speak for itself than turn an interview into a debate over the word “fake.”
What do you think about Cody Rhodes’ approach to dealing with people who call professional wrestling “fake”? Let us know 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.
