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Cody Rhodes seems to be making headlines the world over, be it the mainstream media or pro-wrestling circles, following the monumental event which he promoted alongside The Young Bucks--All In. In what has been a long and storied career thus far, Cody has undoubtedly established himself as one of the most polarizing figures in the business.
Hailing from a family of stellar wrestlers, which comprises the likes of the late great Dusty Rhodes as well as current WWE RAW Superstar Goldust, Cody first made a name for himself with a decade-long run under the WWE banner. However, many believe that "The American Nightmare" truly broke through as a top-tier star after his departure from the company in 2016--owing to the tireless work he's been putting in on the indie circuit ever since.
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Cody wrestled for the WWE from 2006 to 2016, and considering the sheer amount of time he's been interacting with people in the business, it'd come as no surprise that the reigning NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion has crossed swords with a few notable names in the business while befriending several others. Today, we are going to be looking at 3 wrestlers Cody Rhodes is good friends with and 2 he probably doesn't like...
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#5 Randy Orton
It was from late 2008 to early 2009 that Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase Jr. were involved in the origin storyline of their faction with Randy Orton--The Legacy. While the notorious heel faction initially also comprised Manu and Sim Snuka, Orton's infamous 'tests'--that The Viper used to weed out weak links from the group--eventually resulted in The Legacy consisting of only Orton, Cody and Dibiase.
In several out-of-character interviews over the years, Cody has confirmed that while his on-screen relationship with Orton soured--particularly with him defeating both Cody and Dibiase in their Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania XXVI--he's pretty good friends with Orton outside the ring. In fact, Cody recently spoke to Sam Roberts on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, and joked about Orton getting into the 'dive' controversy with several indie talents including Bully Ray aka WWE Hall of Famer Bubba Ray Dudley in mid-2017.
Moreover, Cody has credited Orton as one of the primary people who helped him find his rhythm under the bright lights in WWE back when they wrestled together as The Legacy...
#4 The Young Bucks
It was on December 10th, 2016 that the big reveal of Cody Rhodes being the newest member of Bullet Club, perpetuated a wave of enthrallment throughout the pro-wrestling world. It could definitely be said that Cody truly came into his own after joining Bullet Club--following which he began performing extensively for NJPW.
On the other hand, The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)--who currently hold the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championships with Cody--similarly made a name for themselves not only with their impressive wrestling skills, but also due to their notoriety which comes with being a part of Bullet Club. In his forenamed appearance on Bully Ray's podcast Busted Open Radio, Cody explained that he does in fact consider both Matt and Nick to be his lifelong friends despite having properly made their acquaintance only in 2016.
The Young Bucks, on their part, seem to be just as loyal towards their good friend Cody--revealing in several shoot interviews that they love the former WWE Superstar not only since he's "crazy" about the sport like them, but also because their friendship undoubtedly means a lot both inside and outside the ring...
#3 Jinder Mahal and Vince Russo
On the 21st of May, 2017, at WWE's Backlash PPV, Jinder Mahal shocked the world by defeating Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship--something that perhaps no one would've expected to happen after Mahal was cut from WWE in 2014 only to return to the company in 2016. Well, you can count Cody Rhodes in the list of people who were shocked by WWE putting its most prestigious title on The Maharajah--something which Cody first spoke about in detail on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast before Jinder won the title.
Cody joked that he probably should've stuck around for a while in WWE, lest he may have been the one facing Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. Intriguingly, while Cody--on the aforesaid podcast appearance with Sam Roberts--stated that he hoped Mahal wins; after the latter truly did beat Orton, The American Nightmare mocked the abrupt booking decision on his YouTube show alongside The Young Bucks, Being The Elite.
Moreover, while Cody's dislike for Mahal seems to be largely based on WWE's perplexing booking of him, rather than a personal grudge against the latter, Cody did not hold back while speaking out against former WWE and WCW writer and booker Vince Russo. In fact, Cody and The Young Bucks chose to "ban" Russo from attending All In, stating that the All In management doesn't reward bad behavior--a jab at Russo's many homophobic and misogynistic rants on social media...
#2 Zack Ryder
Contrary to popular belief after their social media tiff in December of last year, Cody Rhodes and Zack Ryder are in fact good friends in real life. Cody has always been known to portray Ryder as a goofy, but close friend--something The American Nightmare explained in detail while speaking to Bully Ray on the latter's podcast Busted Open Radio.
Cody and Ray joked that the former now has major heat with Ryder--especially given the fact that Cody openly mocked Ryder's extensive toy collection on the podcast. Cody went on to reveal that Ryder lived with his parents for 10 years after first having started with WWE, and then, when he finally moved out to a house of his own, Ryder saved two of the bedrooms at his new residence for his toy collection.
Moreover, Cody jokingly stated that although Ryder is a "fake Star Wars fan", still collects WWE figures despite him working for WWE for several years, and posts "cringe" content on his social media accounts--he still considers Ryder as his friend. As for the Twitter controversy between these two friends--Cody had mistakenly accused Ryder of tweeting a group photo of the WWE's champions a few years back, only to later learn that it was CM Punk who did it.
Ryder then called Cody out on the latter's error, and after apologizing to Ryder in a private text, Cody tweeted out the hilarious response that the "Long Island Iced Z" sent him...
#1 Xavier Woods
Xavier Woods, who has been wrestling for the WWE since 2010, started off as an amateur wrestler in high school--much like Cody Rhodes, who was also a good amateur wrestler during his younger days. Speaking To Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho, Woods narrated the history between him and Cody--stating that he and Cody went to rival schools which legitimately hated each other, leading to tough competition in sports such as wrestling, football, baseball, basketball, et cetera.
Woods, being a lifelong professional wrestling fan, came up with an elaborate plan whereby he'd move up from his weight-class of 160 pounds to the 180-pound division in order to wrestle Cody who was from the rival school. Woods explained that he wanted to beat Cody, and thought that if he did manage to defeat Cody, the latter's father and legendary pro-wrestler Dusty Rhodes would train him to become the best wrestler ever...Well, Cody ended up beating Woods 2-1, however, the story didn't end there.
A few months later, Woods met a girl whom he knew since his childhood days and had a crush on--with the girl giving him a big hug after having met him for the first time in many years. The aforesaid meeting took place in a bowling alley where the girl introduced all her friends to Woods, and then introduced another friend who had his back turned at first--only to be dramatically revealed as Cody!
Woods continued--"He turns around and he looks and he goes, "ugh, I know him. I beat that kid." And then he picks up a bowling ball and bowls a strike. And it was the most d******d move I've ever seen in my life!" Woods then went on to add that at WrestleMania XXVIII which took place in Miami, he and his parents were walking towards the elevator, when Cody approached them and exchanged pleasantries with his mother and father for 5-10 minutes.
Woods continued that his father seemed to be genuinely surprised at how "nice" of a person Cody had become as an adult. Interestingly, Cody has seemingly chosen to refrain from addressing his schooldays' heat with Woods, and while the latter has seemingly let bygones be bygones, Cody is yet to do the same despite having appeared on Woods' YouTube show UpUpDownDown as well as working with him in WWE.
