Cody Rhodes is ready for his spotlight at the end of night one on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.”
Ahead of this weekend’s WrestleMania 42, “The American Nightmare” sat down with WWE color-commentator Joe Tessitore for an in-depth interview, during which he spoke about his rivalry and storyline with Randy Orton, as well as the introduction of Pat McAfee and the reaction to it from the fans.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On his storyline with Randy Orton involving Pat McAfee: “There’s a expression in my family when it comes to WrestleMania specifically, where we say, that’s a curve ball. Curve ball. We had a curveball here. I thought we were going into this student vs. teacher. I thought I’d get the opportunity for the guy I had my first match on WWE TV with, to look at me and see me. I’ve said that a bunch, that’s a really important thing for him to see me and know, oh, he’s a totally different animal. Not only that, he’s gonna beat me. I need him to see that and know that, that’s what I thought I was going into. So put on top of it as if it’s just a cherry, but it’s clearly far deeper than that. The fact that he left me in a pool of my own blood on your desk. If you’re a Randy Orton fan and you want him to get 15, I don’t think you wanted him to get 15 standing next to Pat McAfee and being something that he’s never been before. This is a tricky word in our world, but I’ll tell you, it’s fake. The Randy Orton that you’re seeing now is fake. The Randy Orton that you’re seeing now will do anything, as we’ve seen, to get to 15. So again, you can’t reconcile that, and really doesn’t help me or behoove me to look at all the good stuff. I know what I felt, I felt the steps against my head. I felt the chair against my head. You only really need one to know what you’re walking into at WrestleMania 42 and how you need to be walking into it.”
On how Pat McAfee united wrestling fans to agree on one thing — they don’t want to see him at WrestleMania: “Pat McAfee is talking about the Attitude Era while representing Randy Orton, who debuted long after the Attitude Era. He’s doing catchphrases and he’s going on his own show. He’s talking about the IWC. He’s talking about calling people marks. I’ve mentioned this to Pat even before. Bill Watts, old-time wrestling promoter, he used to make sure that people who called them marks, he corrected them and said, ‘Oh, actually they’re customers.’ Not only are they customers, when you’re someone who grew up in the business and every meal you got was because of it, they’re not just customers, they’re family. So here I am a polarizing wrestler that half the crowd is booing and half the crowd is cheering already. Pat, you’ve given me a gift because for the first time in the centuries that the sport of pro wrestling has existed, everyone can agree on one thing: No one wants Pat f**king McAfee at WrestleMania.”
Cody Rhodes defends his Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42 in a match where if Orton loses, Pat McAfee has vowed that WWE fans will no longer see or hear from him again.
WrestleMania 42 is scheduled to take place on April 18 and April 19 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.
