Cody Rhodes doesn’t understand why wearing suits makes certain people uncomfortable.
RAW Superstar Cody Rhodes recently sat down with Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked if his suits are part of his gimmick and if he ever just wears shorts and flip-flops, Rhodes said he wears those on occasion but loves wearing a suit.
“Yes. A very rare occasion, I will,” Cody Rhodes said. “[But] I feel like a suit, a tie, good shoes, all the fashion elements are very much something I enjoy. I like coming to work, you see a lot of people show up in the coolest of outfits. It’s almost like a fashion show at two o’clock at call time.
“People are excited to be going to work, and they dress for work. New Japan was the same way as well. Some of the guys in New Japan had some of the nicest suits, just handsome SANADA, Okada, all these guys. But I will back it up all the way to when I first started wearing them, which was when I started doing independent wrestling. So I waited to leave WWE, and that’s where I freed myself up to make the decision of I’m going to be the guy that I wanted to be all along.
Why The Suit?
“And at that point, it was almost performative. I’ll wear a suit so they know, oh he’s the guy from WWE, and I’ll wear a suit on the plane so that when they talk to me and ask me what I do, their experience with a wrestler is different from if they were sitting next to a, let me tell you something brother type. I want to subvert your expectations on how we are today in terms of we can be educated; we can be well-read, we can be cultured, we can be all these things.
Cody Rhodes said the presentation took a turn during his time in AEW when certain people started taking issue with it.
“So it went from this is presentation, this is gimmick to well, I’m their boss, so I want to have a standard of look. I want to have an appearance that will make people think if everything’s falling apart, dude in the suits got it,” Cody Rhodes said. “He knows, hey, if this meeting is going wrong, if this pitch is not landing, I could handle it. I was always doing media as well during that period.
“And that’s the first period when I was in AEW, where suits started to make certain people uncomfortable. And you’ll hear some podcasts out there that they just can’t wrap their head around the suit like, ‘Why? You’re supposed to be a babyface. Why are you in the suit?’ The moment that suits started making people uncomfortable? It’s all I ever wanted to wear. It really is because if this makes you uncomfortable, something’s wrong with you.
“I feel good. I want to show up here and be the best dressed and present myself in the most classy way I possibly can. How does it affect you? And it was real, the kids say — I can’t use the term, but it’s like I want to say the most little penis energy thing I’ve ever heard is when people are mad that I wear suits. Okay? It doesn’t affect you.”
It’s Never The Fans
When asked who has an issue with him wearing a suit, Rhodes confirmed it’s never the fans. Rhodes did, however, point the finger at the Attitude Era podcasters whose whole existence is talking about what they’re doing wrong today.
“Never never fans,” Cody Rhodes confirmed. “But listen, there’s a lot of guys from the Attitude Era and previous eras who just their whole being in existence is talking about how we’re doing this wrong today. We’re doing wrestling wrong today. And I don’t begrudge them because that’s kind of their audience, and they gotta lean into it. But it’s a weird stance to take when we’re doing record business.”
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What do you make of Cody Rhodes’ comments? Do you have an issue with him wearing a suit? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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