Cody touts ‘unscripted’ Raw promo, unexpected reaction to WWE return

It seems like Cody Rhodes has talked to just about every wrestling interviewer since his return to WWE last Saturday at WrestleMania 38. He definitely wasn’t going to skip the company’s in-house internet chat show, The Bump.

Kayla Braxton, Matt Camp & Ryan Pappolla cleared out for Cody, as Rhodes was The Bump’s only guest this morning (April 6). He even got his full entrance before checking out the show’s memorabilia collection.

An item from wrestling history was central to Rhodes’ big promo this past Monday night. In answering another question about why he came back to WWE, Cody confirmed reports that speech wasn’t written for him by WWE creative. Sounds like that’s the plan for him moving forward, too.

“Gosh, I really don’t know how else to put it other than that it just really was time. I loved what I had been doing, so proud of it. I know people aren’t living under a rock, I had come from another company that I loved everything about it — everything. But I needed to move forward. And I got to elaborate on that a little on Raw. Which was amazing, because I was just able to go out and speak in an unscripted, raw fashion, and tell a story about my Dad that not everybody knows. Some fans know because I posted about, I actually have the title I spoke about... That was my original impetus and whole origin story on wanting to be a wrestler. So, to be able to tell the world that was very special...

“I, as a professional, wanted to present it in the most digestible way. It’s incredibly real, from the heart, not scripted. I think it’s probably a good precedent to set for me when it comes to being here now and being on this team. That’s how I’d like to present myself in terms of, I know what I’m doing with a microphone and I don’t need to be told. That was a case of I’m just going to tell you a real story, anyways. I was glad to tell it because... my dream shifted a great deal in the industry as things changed for me. How often do you get another opportunity? I wasn’t ready. I didn’t do it, and I’m sorry Dad that I didn’t get it done, but I have a family myself now and I can get it done still, even with him not here.”

For the last stretch of his AEW run, The American Nightmare was getting the kind of mixed reactions we’ve seen performers like Roman Reigns and John Cena get in the past. He thought that would follow him to WWE, and would have been grateful for it. But he’s happy to have been welcomed back:

“I was expecting a more polarizing reaction because the last bit of wrestling I had done I was a bit more of a ‘Let’s go Cody, Cody sucks’ type, which I love. But also, I’m an outsider. I broke the throne, I helped create an alternative promotion, I caused an incredible amount of disturbance in this world. And everyone, how beautiful of it is — it wasn’t a negative return, it was a positive...

“It felt like a triumphant return and it felt really vindicating to show up as me. I was expecting some detractors to it all, and I would have loved that just as much but it didn’t seem like we got any of that.”

The subject of Undisputed WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns also came up. Rhodes praised the Tribal Chief, and said they had yet to cross paths. But he did call a showdown with Reigns “THE match that is out there” for him.

Excited for more unscripted Cody promos? Think the warm reactions will last? Ready for showdown with Roman?