Paul Heyman and Cody Rhodes had a memorable promo segment on the February 6 edition of WWE Raw.
This was where Heyman talked with the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble winner on behalf of WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns ahead of their clash at WrestleMania 39.
The topic of Cody’s late father Dusty Rhodes was the main focal point of the promo. Rhodes thanked Heyman for reigniting Dusty’s passion during his ECW days. Heyman told Rhodes that in the last conversation he had with Dusty, the legendary wrestler told him that Cody was his favorite son, but Reigns was the son he always wanted.
The Pressure
While speaking on the SI Media podcast, Heyman looked back on the promo.
“I like pressure. I don’t find pressure to be burdensome. I find it to be inspiring. We have Cody coming out of the gates now one-on-one with Roman because this was the night after the Elimination Chamber where Roman Reigns defeats Sami Zayn. so you know it won’t be Sami, you know it’s going to be Cody challenging Roman and an audience. I’m sorry, this was before the Elimination Chamber, but an audience that is really honed in on the arrival of Sami Zayn as a superstar.”
Heyman continued, “Here’s Cody, with his own narrative, his own story to tell, and as he will tell his story to finish. And a compelling one at that, and an emotional one at that. We have to tell his story as well. The pressure is we have a first time WrestleMania main event and an audience that is very critical of new people in the main event of WrestleMania….The pressure really was to demonstrate Cody Rhodes as someone who is capable of hanging with and telling himself a WrestleMania main event level story for the audience to absorb and become invested in.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit with an h/t to SEScoops for the transcription.
