Wrestlemania 38 Had a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Reference

Wrestlemania 38 had something for everyone, including a subtle reference to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. On Saturday, Cody Rhodes returned to the WWE after a 6-year absence, including a 3-year stint founding rival company AEW. Rhodes returned to a hero’s welcoming, facing off against Seth Rollins in one of the best matches of the weekend. During the early minutes of the match, WWE commentator snuck in a few lines of dialogue from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which also served to reference Rhodes’ past with the company. “The flow of time is always cruel and a thing that doesn’t change with time is just a memory of younger days,” Graves said. That’s a paraphrase of some dialogue said by Sheik to Link when Link returned to his old home within Kokiri Forest. Given that Ocarina of Time is Rhodes’ favorite Legend of Zelda game, the line was a nice nod to both Rhodes and the franchise. 

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Rhodes is a longtime Legend of Zelda fan and even has the Triforce tattooed on one finger. Rhodes often wore boots with the Triforce on them during his early days in the ring and even appeared in a Nintendo segment made to celebrate the franchise’s 25th anniversary. Back in 2019, Rhodes spoke to ComicBook.com about the most recent Legend of Zelda game Breath of the Wild as well as its upcoming sequel. “I think Breath of the Wild was amazing,” Rhodes said. “The one negative I saw people might have is perhaps they wanted a bit more story or it might be even be a positive, it was so good they wanted to know more. But now we’re following the same Link, and Zelda, and through Hyrule. The trailer looked pretty ghastly so I’m excited for it.”

Now that Rhodes is back, it’s more than likely that we’ll get a few more Legend of Zelda references in the WWE. Rhodes signed a multi-year contract with the WWE and almost certainly will be one of the top stars at the company during his current stint.