Cody Rhodes had another idea for his feud with The Rock that never made it anywhere near WWE television. In fact, The Rock himself apparently never even knew about it.
While speaking with Simone Johnson on his What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast, Rhodes revealed that the idea came during Johnson’s run as NXT General Manager Ava. Cody had only discussed it with Johnson and two friends working in WWE creative, keeping it away from The Rock entirely.
“You and I are the only people to discuss it. I did bring it up to one other person, two of my friends who work in WWE creative. But when the Final Boss asked me for my soul, and I don’t know, did you ever tell him this? I never shared it with him.”
Johnson confirmed they had kept the whole thing quiet: “We did, yeah. We kept it low.” The idea played directly off The Rock’s “Final Boss” character demanding Cody’s soul. Cody considered eventually relenting and giving up his soul, except The Rock wouldn’t be the one getting it. Instead, Cody wanted to give it to The Rock’s daughter.
“When he asked me for my soul, I thought, you know what would’ve been funny? Is to relent and give my soul, but not to him. And this is at the time when you were the NXT General Manager, to you. And I thought, that’s got legs. I’ll never say a word again. She’ll speak.”
That would have completely changed Cody’s presentation. Rather than Rhodes continuing to speak for himself, Johnson would have effectively become his voice, and she believed the two could have made it work.
“I think we would’ve crushed that.”
Cody Rhodes agreed. He also used the idea to push back against the belief that he wouldn’t be willing to take his character somewhere darker if the story called for it.
“We would’ve crushed that. You know how often people, ‘Oh, he doesn’t want to, you don’t want to be a bad guy.’ I am open to all things. Whatever is the best. Whatever works. But I thought that would’ve been a real good spin.”
Johnson was just as interested in seeing where it could have gone: “I would’ve loved to have done that.” There was still one pretty important person who never got a chance to weigh in: The Rock. When Cody asked how her father would have reacted to his daughter becoming the person holding Cody’s “soul,” Johnson believed he would have been completely behind it.
“I think he would’ve been all for it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.”
The American Nightmare was surprised she never told him, but Johnson had a fairly straightforward explanation. Her father was a little busy being the Final Boss.
“I don’t think it ever came up, ’cause I think he was, you know, beating you up, asking you for your soul.”
The idea never made it beyond those private conversations, but Cody clearly saw some mileage in turning The Rock’s own demand against him. Instead of surrendering to the Final Boss, he wanted to hand his voice to The Rock’s daughter and see where things went from there.
Would Cody Rhodes going silent with Simone Johnson speaking for him have worked during The Rock feud, or was WWE better off leaving this one on the drawing board? Sound off in the comments.
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.
