Getting a hero’s welcome at WrestleMania 38 was the biggest moment of Cody Rhodes’ wrestling career. As much as Cody did it for his late great father Dusty Rhodes, he did it for his own daughter and wife as well. The second-generation star reacted to his huge moment at the Show Of Shows in a couple of backstage videos after his match against Seth Rollins.
Rhodes mentioned how he has been running away from the specter of Dusty for his whole career. After everything he has done in 16 years, he finally felt like he could do it for himself. He is now ready to play the game:
“Everyone keeps saying the same two words. They say ‘welcome home’, and as flattering as that is and as much as I appreciated it, reciprocate the feeling. For the entire career of 16 years, I’ve run away from the specter of Dusty Rhodes, the shadow because it’s so big and so great,”
And I finally felt like ‘You know, I don’t have to do it for him anymore. Maybe I could do it for me, and that will be doing it for him’. I got the chance to go out there and do it in Texas.” ” said Cody Rhodes, “The last WrestleMania I was here as Stardust and to come back and to be me [is the] ultimate vindication. I’m very happy. They say welcome home, I say ‘I’m ready to play the game, let’s go.'”
Cody talked about the welcome he got from the crowd. He mentioned how Texas has seen people such as Steve Austin and The Undertaker. So you have to earn that reaction. He said that he worked for 16 solid years to earn the same. He thinks he is the best wrestler in the entire world and the only way to prove it is to win the big one.