John Cena has made it clear where Cody Rhodes stands after their WWE rivalry, and he isn’t having trouble admitting that the American Nightmare passed him by. Cena said Rhodes surpassed him before describing their SummerSlam showdown as the moment the torch was officially passed.
Cena discussed Rhodes while talking about WWE’s latest Clash of Clans collaboration during an interview with Forbes’ Alfred Konuwa. The Search for Cena campaign has Rhodes leading the hunt for Cena’s hidden Clash of Clans base, and Cena explained that there are several layers to the story. He said Rhodes had already surpassed him in skill within the game, setting up another version of the classic student-becomes-the-master story.
“Man, this thing has got multi-levels of meta in it. I actually love the thoroughness of the campaign. So far, the Search for Cena, that one’s obvious. Nobody can see me, so that’s great. The fact that they’re having Cody [Rhodes] spearhead the search literally ties into not only our Clash of Clans storyline—as me starting out—everyone’s enthusiasm towards Clash of Clans, and him very strongly surpassing me in skill. And now this is kind of his last test of ‘student becomes the master’ if he can find and raid my base to get the trophy and the Cody skin, especially recruit players to do so in this month-long challenge.”
Cena then connected the game directly to what happened between himself and Rhodes on WWE television. He pointed to Rhodes having a rough time against him at WrestleMania before saying their story ultimately ended with Cena passing the torch to Rhodes at SummerSlam.
“But this also mimics our on-television storyline of student-becoming-master that he had a pretty bad run of it in WrestleMania. But culminated with that torch being passed at SummerSlam.”
Cena later went even deeper into Rhodes’ journey, bringing up Cody asking for his WWE release, building himself into the American Nightmare outside the company, becoming a worldwide star and eventually returning with Cena in his sights.
“So this is what I love about the journey. Cody Rhodes asks for his release. He goes and becomes the American Nightmare on his own, gains world popularity, is hired back, and then has me in his crosshairs like, ‘Hey man, I have to face you because I have to fold this chapter to complete my story.’ Well, it ended up being one of his worst nightmares. And he had a really down moment in WrestleMania and it really ended up, he kind of bit off a little bit more than he could chew. So I see a story panning out the same way here in Clash of Clans.”
Cena isn’t leaving much room for interpretation when it comes to how he sees Rhodes now. WrestleMania may have been a nightmare for Cody in Cena’s version of the story, but SummerSlam was where the balance shifted and Cena says the torch officially changed hands.
Do you agree with John Cena that Summer Slam was the true passing-of-the-torch moment to Cody Rhodes? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
