Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is scheduled to face WWE World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER for the men's Crown Jewel Championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday but it famously took a stint away from the company for Rhodes to reach this level, leaving in 2014 as the maligned Stardust character and returning as the "American Nightmare" in 2022.During a recent appearance on "Flagrant,"Rhodes was asked what sets his current character apart from that of his first run.
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"Sometimes I think it's as easy as physical, like, your physicality," Rhodes said. "This is gonna sound silly, but this is a vanity business ... If you're trying to be on the come up, you've got to be in the best shape of your career."
Rhodes drew on this weekend's opponent as an example.
"GUNTHER, he used to be on the independents ... not a muscle you could see on him, a big, hefty, chop a tree down, killer dude," he said. "That manifestation of his goals is right there you can see he's gotten in the best shape of his career, he looks incredible, he looks the part, and there's this weird online contingent that doesn't realize how important that is."
"We are wrestling with our shirts off, folks; you're standing next to some of the best athletes in the world," Rhodes continued. "You'll hear fans like, 'You can't body shame wrestlers.' What are you talking about? We're standing there half-naked and you paid hundreds of dollars to sit there, you can body shame me all you want."
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Rhodes then circled back to what he felt he did wrong in his initial WWE run, linking it to his previous statement on physicality while saying he wished he'd fought more of the "little battles" when it came to creative.
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"That was the thing, I wasn't in great shape, and I had filled the spot as Dustin's partner, we had done really well at that point," he said. "I should have been focused on getting in the best shape of my career, having the best promo, and more importantly, I should have fought the little battles: 'Hey I don't want to team with my brother today.' 'Hey I don't want to come out to his music.' If the answer's, 'You are,' I still would have gotten better had I fought the little battles."
But instead, Rhodes said that he let his frustrations pile up until he finally requested his release.
"I knew right in that moment, a great deal of this was my fault; a great deal of it," he said, before linkinghis new attitude to the current culture of the WWE locker room."I know it might seem toxic and stuff but amongst the boys and girls, everyone's like, 'Who does your diet?' 'Who's training,' there's a whole another health conscious WWE that I love. We're trying to look our best."
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