John Cena got out his golden shovel last night, and he tried to bury Cody Rhodes. He unloaded on the WWE Champion with vicious insult after vicious insult. He made fun of his inauthentic look, his lazy gimmicks, his stupid neck tattoo, his prior failures in WWE and the fact that his song is arguably more over than him. He repeatedly referred to him as mediocre, bashed his public speaking abilities, made fun of him for being protected and dropped a hall of fame level quip about him stealing money from AEW owner Tony Khan. It was some nasty work, another epic John Cena promo we’ll all still be talking about decades from now, but a day later, it’s actually Cody Rhodes most fans are talking about now.
That’s because, unlike so many superstars who got bodied by Cena on the stick and couldn’t figure out how to verbally punch back, Cody defended himself quite well. He said he was chosen by the fans while Cena was chosen by Vince McMahon. He accused Cena of leaving WWE in a worse place than he found it and claimed he’s the reason so many fans abandoned the product and started watching other companies. He called him a “piece of shit” and said he has more dick in his promos than inside his jorts. He even brought up the “you can’t wrestle” chants Cena famously got at ECW One Night Stand.
You can check out the whole segment below, which will go down as one of the all-time great promo battles in WWE history…
Now, if I’m being honest, I think Cena was a little better on the mic here. His line about building empires for billionaires and Cody stealing money from their kids is an all-time middle finger and without question the best line either guy got in. I also think the way he phrases things and plays with language can't be touched. His whole family just has that perfect expressive vibe, but make no mistake, Cody did really well here too. In fact, I don’t think there are more than a handful of guys on the entire WWE roster who could have held their own with Cena last night, and it’s a good thing too because it almost all went south.
There’s a moment after Cena finished speaking the first time in which the crowd started chanting his name and aggressively booing Cody. You don’t even need to listen closely to hear the American Nightmare getting a negative reception when he first started talking about being chosen. Had he tripped over his words or fumbled some impotent line in that moment, he could have been in for an embarrassing night. The crowd could have turned on him. We could have all been talking this morning about how he’s just not on Cena’s level. Instead, thousands and thousands of fans are tweeting about how it may have been Rhodes’ best ever performance on the mic. They’re talking about how he looked like he belonged with Cena, one of the greatest talkers in WWE history.
Cody has been the most popular good guy on WWE’s roster for the past few years. He’s been presented as the unsoiled baby face we’re all supposed to root for. That’s gotten him over with a lot of fans, but it’s also left a vocal minority feeling a bit cold toward him and hoping he'd turn heel. He’s felt a little too protected, maybe a bit too much like a throwback to a more clean cut era of good guys and bad guys. He’s seemed a little too packaged and like perhaps he’s been the lucky recipient of a lot of fan interest that was created by Roman Reigns’ bad guy Tribal Chief. Well, moments like last night show how deserving he is to be the top guy.
John Cena cooked on the microphone last night, but we all knew he was capable of that. He’s been doing it for years. I’m stoked he added another great promo battle to his resume, but more than that, I’m stoked Cody Rhodes showed he’s capable of competing on that level. It made me see him in a different light, and judging by social media, reaction channels and the crowd, there are millions of fans who feel the same way.
You can catch John Cena and Cody Rhodes square off in the main event of WrestleMania 41 later this month. You can stream it for free with a Peacock subscription.
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