WWE Champion Cody Rhodes: "I Probably Would Have Made The Best Paul Heyman Guy."

Cody Rhodes's story with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns was far more layered that the initial challenger vs. champion angle WWE had in January 2023. In the weeks leading up to their first clash, Roman revealed that Cody's father, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, was partially responsible for his training. This reignited an old bitterness in Cody, as he recalled feeling jealous of a certain crop of NXT talents known as "Dusty's kids" who were under the tutelage of the American Dream. Beyond that angle, Cody's family also had a legitimate history with Roman's manager Paul Heyman. 

In a WWE Monday Night Raw segment from February 2023, Cody shared an emotional story about how Heyman got Dusty work when the Rhodes family desperately needed a paycheck. Cody noted that he would always be indebted to Heyman for that.

As the story played out, Cody and Heyman were forced to stand on opposite sides. That said, in a timeline where Heyman was not aligned with Cody's adversary, the American Nightmare could envision a strong alliance with the ECW mastermind.

"In another lifetime, I probably would have made the best Paul Heyman Guy. I probably could have been his absolute ace. It just didn't work out that way," Cody told SI Media. "It worked out that I was the adversary for his number one guy, Roman Reigns. There is part of me that looks at that, even with the questionable decisions that Mr. Heyman makes, part of me looks at that and goes, 'That might have been fun. That might have been a good car to be in. That might have been a good person to lean over to right before one of the bigger moments in your life and have something to share.'"

Cody has been a solo operation since returning to WWE in April 2022, but there was a time when he had his own wise man in his corner.

"I had that same enjoyment when I had Arn Anderson with me," Cody recalled his WWE Hall of Famer manager during his AEW tenure. "Just to have someone who has been there before. There is also beauty in being there totally by yourself. There is a specialness to that." 

While Roman is on a sabbatical from WWE, Heyman has remained on programming alongside The Bloodline. It is unclear how long that alliance will last, as Heyman was noticeably horrified at Solo Sikoa and new recruit Tama Tonga's actions this past Friday on WWE SmackDown.