Cody Rhodes says he almost got into a fist fight with Seth Rollins.
Rhodes returned to WWE at WWE WrestleMania 38, where he was revealed as Rollins’ mystery opponent. He defeated the former world champion at WrestleMania, and their feud continued over the next few months. Rhodes beat Rollins at both WrestleMania Backlash and WWE Hell in a Cell.
During an appearance on the Dan LeBatard Show, Rhodes revealed that he almost got into a fist fight with Rollins backstage, though it ultimately didn’t happen.
“I almost would say that I like less people than I dislike in terms of the backstage setting,” Rhodes said. “The competition that exists in wrestling, you see that suspension of disbelief on-screen, but backstage it is very real in terms of the competition, who is going to be on top. For example, who is going to headline WrestleMania.
“This year, being Roman Reigns and myself, it doesn’t garner a lot of friends,” Rhodes said. “Seth Rollins is the closest I’ve ever had to backstage turning into a fist fight in front of all of our peers and upper management. It didn’t happen. Him and I absolutely can’t stand one another, I’d probably try and rip his eyes out.”
Rhodes went on to describe how he had a backstage skirmish otherwise, and while he refused to name the individual, he stated that he won.
“I’ve had one backstage skirmish. I’m not going to name the guy. The good thing is, I won. When I came back, this is early in my career, he was wearing one of my vests. I have these special leather vests that I wore as part of my entrance. He was wearing it and kind of mocking me at the talent viewing position. As I went walking towards him, I thought I was going to headbutt him, but a headbutt seems pretty violent these days. I thought, ‘why don’t I just grapple him?’ I have a good folkstyle Greco background. I got an over-under and swept him to the floor. Then I took my jacket and I looked like a complete jerk in front of everybody because he was probably just having a good time and it was probably funny. Only one fight backstage and I won that fight.” (Transcription credit of Jeremy Lambert of Fightful)
Rhodes will be in for a fight at WWE WrestleMania 39; he will challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
