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Nobody would have quite expected a decade ago that Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes would be traveling the world as the face of the Stamford-based promotion. His career in the company had commenced with a rivalry against Randy Orton, who turned out to be his mentor eventually.
When the two men were part of the faction Legacy on WWE Monday Night RAW in 2008, Afa Anoa'i Jr. was also a part of the group for a brief period, known at the time as Manu. Afa reflected on being an original member of the faction recently on the MuscleManMalcolm podcast.
When asked about his favorite WWE moment from that time, he named two. The first was his debut at Unforgiven 2008 pay-per-view, in which the three of them injured then-World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk backstage, forcing the latter to forfeit the Scramble match he was booked to defend his belt in later that night.
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"My fondest memory being a part of Legacy, I'd probably have to say it was either my actual debut at Unforgiven when we cost CM Punk the World Title, or my debut singles match against Batista," said Afa.
The other incident cited as a special moment for Afa was his match against Batista, as the former WWE Champion was trained by his father Afa Anoa'i of The Wild Samoans. He felt life had come a full circle.
"The Batista match for special reasons, because it was in Atlanta when I first signed with the WWE. I had to move to Atlanta for him in the deep south. It was kind of like a full circle thing that I was wrestling in the two that I was living in at the time, and I was wrestling a Wild Samoan Training Center graduate, and that is Dave Batista. So it was kind of full circle storybook and I had a good one. I felt good about that one," he stated.
Manu was ultimately replaced by Ted DiBease, Jr. The trio wound up taking over WWE programming by storm the following year, stepping up and putting down some major players in the game, from John Cena and Batista to D-Generation X.
Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton is the next high-profile feud WWE has in its back pocket
By WrestleMania 26 in 2010, Legacy broke up for good. Randy Orton put down his protégés in a Triple Threat match on the Grandest Stage of Them All. The 14-time world champion later revisited the rivalry with Cody Rhodes on many occasions, most notably when the latter was Intercontinental Champion in 2011, and in 2013, after The Viper joined The Authority led by Triple H.
The American Nightmare recently addressed the past while assuring that should the two men lock horns again, Orton would not be able to wipe the floor with him as he might have a decade earlier.
Interestingly, Rhodes is open to the idea of reigniting a feud with Triple H, although he gave reasons why it probably would not happen, and had nothing to do with The Game's retirement from in-ring competition. Thus a feud with Orton does seem more plausible.
If you use the quotes from this article, please credit the original source and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
