Triple H Shares Initial Reaction To Cody Rhodes’ Throne Smash In AEW: “‘F*ck Yeah, Good For Him'”

Rhodes and Levesque discuss the throne smash.

Towards the backend of Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque and Cody Rhodes’ recording of What Do You Wanna Talk About?, the throne smash that Rhodes did at AEW Double or Nothing 2019 was introduced as a talking point.

Levesque said his initial reaction to it was one of support for Rhodes. Both agreed that there was no malice behind it.

Rhodes: “You never once, when I came back, asked me about clearly taking your throne, making it imagery in my entrance, away from here, starting my own thing, and taking your hammer to it.”

Levesque: “I saw it as your hammer because it was smaller than mine (laughs). No, look, that kind of sh*t to me is like, I remember when people brought it to me and showing it to me and I was like, ‘F**k yeah, good for him,’ you know what I mean? That’s the kind of sh*t you do. You’re trying to make a name for yourself, you’re trying to get out there, you’re trying to do some cool sh*t, trying to do some different stuff. But believe me, if I would have thought there was malice in it, and maybe indirectly there was some at the time — I don’t know — but if I would have thought there was any serious malice in it, I would have called you and said, ‘Hey dude, like, are we okay?’ Because I was so close to your dad, but then I always felt like a connection to you, and when you were here and it was difficult for me when you left because… I couldn’t over the top go like, dude, get the f*ck out of here and go out there and make a name for yourself and make yourself, what you said, desirable and we’ll f*cking come chasing after you and bring you back. Sometimes you got to get out of the rut you’re in. You just got to bite it off and go in a different direction. Make the left turn, right? And it was so difficult but, during that time, I remember thinking like, alright, that’s getting out there. That’s being bold and making a statement.”

Rhodes: “You did tell me, because you said, ‘Go rattle the cages,’ and you kind of made yourself the target for me to rattle in terms of the optics of wrestling, and there was no malice for sure because this is after I won the Ring of Honor Title, one of the first texts I got back to was yours: ‘Congrats,’ as I was walking to the hospital in Lowell because my lip was busted open holding my first World Title.”

Levesque: “You know, it’s one of those things where you see somebody going off, doing their own thing and having success and I’m like, ‘F*ck yeah. Cody, come on!’ Like, get yourself in that spot where we’re like, hey… I don’t know what he did different but let’s go get him.”

Rhodes: “Well, I’m glad the feeling is good on it versus — because I’m thinking, man, if he’s mad about it, it’s a long road to whatever the payoff is.”

Levesque: “He’s waiting on that receipt (laughs).”

Rhodes: “Oh! Now it’s happening.”

Levesque: “No, man, I never even — I never thought about anything other than, ‘F**k yeah, good for him. Go get it.’”

Rhodes returned to WWE in 2022 and is currently in the midst of his third reign as Undisputed WWE Champion.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.