Cody Rhodes Describes How He'll Be a Much Different WWE Champion Compared to Roman Reigns
Cody Rhodes made it clear in his first Monday Night Raw promo following his WrestleMania 38 return that he was back in WWE for only one reason — to win the WWE Championship. The title has eluded the Rhodes family for decades, with Dusty Rhodes (Cody's father) never getting a definitive win over Superstar Billy Graham when he had the WWWF Championship and Dustin Rhodes (Cody's older half-brother) always being positioned as either a midcarder or tag team specialist. "The American Nightmare" wanted to finally change that, and now he'll get his chance when he faces Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 39.
Reigns unified the WWE and Universal titles at WrestleMania 38, then announced he was pivoting to a part-time schedule that required significantly fewer live events and TV appearances. As a result, he has only wrestled 26 matches since last year's WrestleMania and has yet to compete on free TV in 2023.
Rhodes wants to do the opposite, explaining in a new interview with Stadium Astro that he wants to take a "more is more" approach to a WWE Championship reign. He compared his desired schedule to the likes of Bret Hart and Ric Flair, who were famous for working as many matches as possible during their respective main event runs in the industry.
"I've made a great career out of proving people wrong, and I've taken the attitude as of now about proving people right, especially this new audience with WWE that has really warmly welcomed me back," Rhodes explained (h/t Fightful). "A whole new audience that kind of pairs well with the independent audience I was able to bring over and hopefully bring as many folks as I could. They pair so well together. It's vindication for both those who are just in it now; this is their first ride with 'The American Nightmare.' They like what they're seeing. Then, it's vindication for those who have been there every step of the way.
"Like the song Kingdom says, 'I'll follow you till the end.' When is the end? Is the end when I win the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship, or is the end when I win that title and then take it every single place I can possibly take it and excel and deliver on a level that no champion has done in years? I want to cut a schedule like Bret Hart, like Ric Flair. I want to do something very different than modern champions have done, where there's a bit of a 'less is more' schedule. I want a 'more is more' schedule. It would mean vindication for me, for sure," he added.