“Wrestling has more than one royal family …”
The line is one that gets fans on their feet at sold out WWE events across the globe these days, and during a recent Good Karma Wrestling interview, Cody Rhodes explained the significance of the lyric from his theme song.
When asked if he could think of any story in wrestling history that was as real as his is, “The American Nightmare” would go on to compare his story to “Game of Thrones,” while referencing the aforementioned lyric from his entrance tune.
“You see a lot of rehashes that are tributes and sometimes you can take something that is old and it be new again and you can do it all over,” Rhodes said. “For me, I feel my story is unique because it’s rooted in full reality and it existed prior to. It’s a very long form going from 1977-78 with Dusty and Superstar (Billy Graham), and the WWWF Championship. It’s a very long tale that is incredibly real in a world where we suspended disbelief. If anything, it feels almost like Game of Thrones in wrestling. The bit at the top of my song, ‘Wrestling has more than one royal family.’ I don’t think it was ever intended to be as real as it is. I mean that in a positive for me, but also the crosshair I have on my back from The Bloodline. Any of these families. I’m not QB 1, I’m enemy one. It feels very much that it’s become as real as it ever could. I can’t think of anything that compares.”
Rhodes added, “My buddy Stephen Amell told me this the other day: that element of authenticity. I’ll know the moment I’m disingenuous. There have been plenty of times when I’ve said something that was off the path. That’s the number one thing: staying on brand for me is staying authentic.”
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)