When the FOX cameras stopped rolling inside Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday evening, the action continued.
WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes returned inside MSG after the June 28 episode of SmackDown went off the air.
During the post-show appearance, “The American Nightmare” paid tribute to his late father, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes.
“I mentioned it earlier when we came out here. I had a different plan in mind for my return to The Garden,” Cody said. “Because it is not just my return to The Garden. For those of you who know this story, this is where it all began. In the late ‘70s, my father, ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes traveled to New York City to wrestle ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham. He was a country boy from Austin, Texas, and for some reason, you guys just loved him. Anyways, in this fabled match, Dusty Rhodes defeated ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham. He grabbed what would become this WWE Championship. He climbed that buckle over there, and he held it up.”
Rhodes continued, “But moments later, they took it away from him. It’s okay, this story has a happy ending. I was eight years old, I saw the picture of this title. I knew nothing about the ins and outs of pro wrestling and sports entertainment. All I knew was I wanted to win that title for him. I had always planned on saying the silliest thing to him, but I just wanted to tell him that nobody can take it away from you now. So like I said, if you’ll indulge me, I am gonna climb that buckle because I wanna hold up the WWE Championship, but if I could, my cousin [WWE timekeeper] Berkley , you got something in your hands over there? I will trade you.”
From there, Cody gave his cousin, WWE timekeeper Berkley Ottman, his title in exchange for the classic WWF Title. He posed with it as fans chanted “Dusty! Dusty!” to end the evening.
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
