Cody Rhodes finished his story at WrestleMania 40, and WWE fans around the world are overwhelmed with a whole range of emotions.
Two years after returning to the company, the American Nightmare toppled Roman Reigns in one of the all time best endings in the event’s illustrious history to become the new Undisputed WWE Champion on a record-smashing weekend of epic results and bouts.
It means Cody now holds the title his late dad Dusty Rhodes never won, and his Hall of Famer father was close to his heart in the moments after his big win.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk in the post-show press conference backstage at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, told us what he would say to his dad as he looked down on him.
‘That’s a great question,’ he smiled while fighting back tears. ‘If I’m being honest, I think I’d wanna say to him… that I hope I lived up to your name, and thank you for that name.’
He quipped: ‘And then I would say, sorry about the tattoo.’
Broadcaster Byron Saxton had started to wrap up the press conference before our question, but Cody was determined to answer one more, which led to Metro bringing his public celebrations to a close.
‘If I learned anything from my dad, if it’s a good night you don’t want it to end,’ he said, while fans around the world were moved by his comments.
Make a grown man cry,’ tweeted @xJahstin, while fellow X user @HeyyitsKourtnie wrote: ‘I’m gonna cry again.’
‘Happy tears for Cody. Dusty would be damn proud,’ said @AmbroseMoxMode, and fan @moneycalled added: ‘When he said “thank you for that name” genuinely made me tear up.’
Cody led the way for the most successful WrestleMania in history, breaking last year’s gate record by 78%, with 145,298 in attendance over both nights.
Viewership was also up 41% across both nights, while merch sales with Fanatics rose by over 20%.
It was the most socially viewed WrestleMania of all time, while Raw and SmackDown broke their respective gate records, and Stand & Deliver pulled in 16,545 fans to make that show the biggest NXT event ever.
Earlier in the press conference, Cody revealed that Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, Nick Khan and Bruce Prichard presented him with a watch that was full of emotion and personal history.
He explained: ‘[It] is the same watch that my dad had, that he pawned so I could go to acting school. So the level of investment and responsibility that the company put in my hands? I hope that I can pay it back and pay it forward 100 times over.’
Cody’s win was much more than simply the culmination of a two year story since his WWE return at WrestleMania 38, and even goes beyond the heartfelt tributes to his late dad.
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It also marked the end of Roman Reigns’ historic 1,316 day run as champion, which concluded in a perfect matter covering everything that makes professional wrestling so engaging for anyone who truly loves it.
After keeping fans gripped with a straight up wrestling match, the bout descended into the chaos many predicted, with Jimmy and Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, John Cena, Seth Rollins, The Rock and even The Undertaker appearing in a sequence straight out of The Avengers.
Elsewhere on the show, there was a memorable win for Bayley was she beat her former Damage CTRL teammate Iyo Sky to become WWE Women’s Champion.
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And the opening match saw Drew McIntyre finally get his big moment in front of a full stadium as he won the World Heavyweight Title, but his insistence on mocking CM Punk proved to be his downfall as got laid out, leading to Damian Priest cashing in the Money In The Bank briefcase and leaving as champ.
WWE WrestleMania night two results
- World Heavyweight Title: Damian Priest cashed in to become champion after Drew McIntyre beat Seth Rollins
- Philadelphia Street Fight (Bubba Ray Dudley as Special Guest Referee): The Pride defeated The Final Testament
- LA Knight pinned AJ Styles
- United States Title: Logan Paul (c) beat Kevin Owens and Randy Orton
- WWE Women’s Title: Bayley pinned Iyo Sky (c)
- Bloodline Rules for Undisputed WWE Universal Title: Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns (c)
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