Watch: Cody Rhodes Shares Hilarious Royal Rumble Story With The Undertaker

During a recent live interview with Inside The Ropes, AEW's Cody Rhodes recalled one of his favorite Royal Rumble memories from his WWE career. Back in early 2008 Rhodes had just broken onto the WWE scene with a tag team partnership with Hardcore Holly and was a decade away from becoming a fan favorite on the independent scene. So when he competed in his first Royal Rumble match in 2008 (at Madison Square Garden where John Cena won his first Rumble), he didn't know how important those first 30 seconds were for each entrant. After talking about it backstage with CM Punk, Rhodes ran out to a decent crowd reaction and nearly dumped Punk out of the ring before the "deer in the headlights" sensation came over him.

"It was that quick, and now I just feel the camera on me and I can literally see myself on the screen, just a child," Rhodes said. "And I see Undertaker in the corner. And I thought, 'F— it, I'm gonna do it!' I run over, he's on top of somebody in the corner, and I hit this man the hardest I've ever hit anyone. Just back of the head, bam! And I felt him stop, the whole head turn and everything, and now I know... I've been in this long enough to know, 'Okay, now I'm the bad guy.' So I'm already [cowering] and I can see myself on the screen like 'Oh god.' [The fans] are still watching me. All of sudden he just — bam! [Grabs] me around the neck."

But instead of sending Rhodes up for a Chokeslam, Taker whispers for Rhodes to kick him in the knee. Rhodes did, and Taker then whispered for a dropkick, bringing a look of utter joy to Rhodes' face.

"I get so excited. I jump up, I drop kick him, he takes a bump!" Rhodes said. "...After that, Taker was like God to me. I thought, 'Everything about this guy is about giving back.' He absolutely did not need to do that. Plus I stiffed the hell out of him, he didn't need to do that."

Check out the full card for tonight's Royal Rumble event below:

• WWE Universal Championship: Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan (Strap Match)
• Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Asuka
• SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Lacey Evans
• United States Championship: Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo
• Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin (Falls Count Anywhere)
• Shorty G vs. Sheamus
• Men's Royal Rumble — Winner gets a world championship match at WrestleMania 36 (Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, Erick Rowan, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, Drew McInytre, Elias, King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Otis, Tucker, Rusev, Bobby Lashley, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Braun Strowman, Shinsuke Nakamura, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, Kofi Kingston, Big E, R-Truth, John Morrison, The Miz, TBA)
• Women's Royal Rumble — Winner gets a women's championship match at WrestleMania 36 (Chralotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Sarah Logan, Natalya, Carmella, Dana Brooke, TBA)