Cody Rhodes has opened up about his mindset during the infamous segment with The Rock after his Royal Rumble 2024 victory.
The Undisputed WWE Champion recently had an interview with Inside The Ropes. He discussed things such as how his daughter motivates him to continue working hard, his AEW exit, and more.
When the topic of the build to WrestleMania 40 came up, Cody was asked about comments made by The Rock\'s personal writer Brian Gewirtz about his infamous segment with The People\'s Champ. Gewirtz had expressed that Rhodes could have looked more enthusiastic while handing his Mania opportunity to The Great One.
The American Nightmare explained that Brian might be right because things were so real that he wasn\'t thinking of himself as a performer in the moment:
\"He might have a point. He might, only because I didn\'t think of myself. The moment was so real—I guess I didn\'t think of myself in a performance sense of \'You\'re not smiling or you are smiling,\' and then the Final Boss had whispered something in my ear that was actually really kind and nice, and I did smile.
And then, I think not so much about my face; the thing I remember about it is I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to get out of there. I did want them to have their moment. I wanted to be gone. I didn\'t want people to linger on me.\
Cody Rhodes\' Boo Boo Face
The segment in question happened during the February 2 episode of SmackDown, days after Rhodes won the 2024 Royal Rumble.
Due to his expressions, fans started a huge campaign on social media rejecting the idea of The Rock taking his spot. The backlash forced the Hollywood star to change his plans and it put Cody back on the path to finish his story.
Talking about his expressions during the segment, Cody Rhodes explained that he didn\'t think the production would focus so much on him. He was just looking to get out of the spotlight as soon as possible:
\"It seems like...I would never shade our production team, especially with what Brian Fadem, and Lee Fitting - everyone is doing. I think they might have spent a little too much time focused on me in the first place—and not focused on that potential matchup. Because, yeah, I don\'t think I offered up, Brian probably has a point, I don\'t think I offered up the best faces for what that should have been.
I certainly wasn\'t trying to be a \'boo-boo\' face—you know, boo boo is famous in the industry when something\'s up and you can tell upon somebody\'s entrance. But maybe I was like the number one case of it of all time—who knows?
I did not think they would spend so much time on me. I did not think they would be looking at me while I was in the aisle. I just wanted to get back to my bus. I actually didn\'t go through gorilla; I walked around it. I didn\'t want to see anybody. I just sprinted and got on my bus and just locked the door.\
Cody Rhodes is currently scheduled to defend his Undisputed WWE Championship against Kevin Owens at the Bash In Berlin PPV on August 31. You can check out the betting odds for the show here.
