Cody Rhodes States That He’s Proud Of How He Handled WrestleMania 42: “I Just Wanted To Make It Work For The Night”

Cody Rhodes looks back at WrestleMania 42.

The build to Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton’s Undisputed WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 42 featured involvement from Pat McAfee and Grammy Award-winning music artist Jelly Roll.

With those two factors in play, Rhodes expressed to Ariel Helwani that he’s proud of how he handled himself behind the scenes. As far as WrestleMania goes, Rhodes said he just wanted to make it work for the night.

“I hope that wrestling fans can understand that behind the scenes, for me, it was probably the most proud I’d ever been of how I dealt with anything. It was probably the most calm I’d ever been on the day, and probably even though my eye was shot, afterwards, it was probably the most calm I’d ever been leaving the ring. Because there were a lot of new factors. Companies change, directives change. That’s part of every walk of life, every type of entertainment and I really just wanted to take a page out of the guys who had been mentors for me. I thought a lot about my dad and I thought a lot about Hunter, and how they would deal with something that was unique. You’re wrestling the guy you’ve got almost 20 years of history with but then there’s this unbelievably bold Pat McAfee character with such a crossover appeal and doing so great on ESPN and then there’s Jelly Roll who’s just coming off winning these Grammys. I just wanted to make it work for the night, and for everyone to feel that we had given them our best efforts. Looking back at it, I may be thinking too internally about it, but internally, I was so proud, because, you know, you’re dealing with a lot of big names and potentially a lot of big egos and I wanted to do right, again, by the people who raised me in the business and hey, I’m gonna make this work, and not just make it work. I’m gonna make it sing if I can.”

Rhodes ended up defeating Orton to retain the Undisputed WWE Title, and afterward, Orton punt-kicked Rhodes. The stipulation that McAfee suggested is that if Orton lost, McAfee would be done with the wrestling business.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit The Ariel Helwani Show with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.