Cody Rhodes has seen the claim that he once pitched losing the WWE Championship, and he wants everyone to know that’s complete nonsense. In fact, Cody says there’s one pretty easy reason fans should be suspicious anytime they hear about a wrestler volunteering to give up their biggest meal ticket.
Speaking on the Double Coverage podcast, Cody addressed the rumor after noticing people were still bringing up an older report from around eight months ago claiming he personally suggested dropping the title. What bothered him was seeing the story repeated like it had eventually become an established fact.
According to Cody, that’s not how wrestlers think when they’re sitting at the top of the company. Outside of someone nearing the end of their career and figuring out their final opponent, he doesn’t buy the idea of a champion walking into creative and asking to lose.
“Here’s how I knew it had gotten crazy. There was a story that I had pitched to lose the title, and now I saw somebody referencing this, like eight months ago, like, ‘Well, don’t forget when he, remember he pitched it.’”
Cody then flat-out denied that mentality and explained why the championship means way too much for a wrestler to casually volunteer to give it away. As far as he’s concerned, if you’re champion, somebody should have to come and take it from you.
“If you ever hear a story of a wrestler pitching to lose the title, you should know right out of the gate they’re lying. No wrestler has ever said, you know what, there’s a difference between an old man figuring out who his last opponent is, but no wrestler has ever said, ‘Yeah, I want to, I need to lose the title.’”
He didn’t stop there either. Cody called the championship a wrestler’s “meal ticket” and made it pretty clear that willingly pitching away that position makes absolutely no sense to him.
“My gosh, that’s the meal ticket. You never—you want somebody to take it from you. Don’t pitch it.”
The bigger frustration for Cody seems to be how quickly something online can go from being a report to something people start treating like evidence months later. Seeing that happen with the championship story apparently gave him a pretty good example of how disconnected wrestling conversations online can become from what he experiences in WWE arenas.
“And I saw that being talked about as if it was actual evidence. And I thought, ‘Oh man, I wish you knew.’ You know, I wish you guys knew that these conversations are just here. They’re just here.”
Cody’s advice for anyone getting caught up in those conversations was pretty simple: actually go to a WWE show. From his perspective, the atmosphere inside the building tells a much different story from what someone might assume after spending all day reading wrestling discourse online.
“Come to a show. Come to a show and you will see. Oh, people are having a great time. They love all of it.”
So Cody isn’t just denying that he ever pitched losing the WWE Championship. He’s also clearly tired of seeing an old claim get repeated enough times that people eventually start treating it like something he actually did.
Do you agree with Cody Rhodes that wrestlers would never willingly pitch giving up their championship, or do you think there are situations where it could make sense? Let us know what you think 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.
