Cody Rhodes dropped the clearest hint yet that a character change may be on the horizon.
Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show ahead of WrestleMania 42, the Undisputed WWE Champion openly mused about turning heel for the first time in years, citing the repeated provocations from Pat McAfee and the escalating tension surrounding his title defense against Randy Orton.
"Maybe it's time for me to change," Rhodes said. "I've been saying for so long, 'I don't think I could do heel stuff.' But after a while, it starts to feel like it's almost expected, like the audience would expect, yeah, this guy's going to lose it at some point. He's going to snap. And how does that look?"
Competing With Himself
Rhodes connected the potential character shift to a broader philosophy about his career. He described the moment the American Nightmare persona came together as the direct result of stopping the comparison game with other wrestlers.
"The greatest competitor you're going to have in terms of entertainment or WWE is yourself," Rhodes said. "The moment I stopped looking at the rest of the roster going, 'Well, he has this or she has this,' and I just started looking at being the best me, that's really where the whole American Nightmare thing came to be. I felt reborn coming back to WWE, taking everything I'd learned away, whether it was the indies or AEW, everything I'd done, and putting it finally together and executing it."
Rhodes also framed his repeated encounters with outside interference during WrestleMania season as something he has accepted. He cited The Rock, Travis Scott, and now McAfee as figures who have inserted themselves into his biggest moments.
"If you're going to be in the big moments, you have to be ready for the big jobs," he said.
Whether Rhodes follows through on the tease or uses it as fuel for his babyface fire remains to be seen. He defends the Undisputed WWE Championship against Orton in the Night 1 main event at WrestleMania 42 on April 18 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
