WWE Hall of Famer Believes He Is a Big Part of Cody Rhodes’ Success

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently appeared on The Kurt Angle Show and gave his thoughts on a number of topics, including Cody Rhodes. 

During Rhodes’ initial run in WWE, he and Booker T would wrestle several times in different iterations of Rhodes’ character. When Booker left TNA Wrestling in 2010 and returned to WWE, they entered a program in 2011 and 2012 where they would wrestle each other quite frequently. “You know, I feel like I got a big part of Cody’s rise. Like he owed me a check [laughs]. No, I saw something in Cody back then, you know, when no one was really giving him a chance. I saw something in Cody Rhodes. No one came to me with that, ‘Hey, Book, you want to work Cody?’ I did that. That’s the first time I’ve ever asked to work with someone,” Booker said. 

Booker also discussed Cody’s current run in WWE after returning at WrestleMania 38 last year. “I just wanted to see that kid thrive because I saw his talent when he was with all those other guys [The Legacy]. He just didn’t get the shine that Batista and Randy [Orton] and those guys got but I thought he was just as good of a talent. For him to lead a company and go out there and rebuild himself and brand himself and then the company said, ‘hey, we want you back, we need you back under this umbrella.’ For him to be doing what he’s doing now, he did that. He did that all on his own, man,” Booker expressed. “So, I give him major props for being a guy who grew up in this business but was willing to go out there on that independent scene. And that’s a grind, dawg. That’s a grind. I’m going to tell you, I’ve been in a couple of independent shows and he would show up and he would always, I mean, everybody else [is[ looking like a bum. Cody would have a suit on. His hair was well-coiffed. And I was like, ‘boy, you learned, you learned.’ Because Cody, every time he saw me, I was always dressed. I was always looking the part. And for Cody to pick that up and figure that out, I was pretty proud of that kid.”

Rhodes is currently in a program with The Judgment Day. After winning the WWE Tag Team Championships with tag team partner Jey Uso at WWE Fastlane, they lost the titles to Finn Balor and Damian Priest just a week later. He will participate in Survivor Series WarGames on Nov. 25, a match that his father Dusty helped create. Rhodes will team with Uso, Sami Zayn, Randy Orton, and Seth Rollins against The Judgment Day (Priest, Balor, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh) as well as Drew McIntyre.