Cody Rhodes has received critical praise throughout his AEW career for his ability to cut a promo. His promo on AEW Dynamite ahead of AEW Full Gear 2019 for his match against Chris Jericho is considered by many to be one of the best promos of the year.
His promo on the May 12 episode of AEW Dynamite, which focused on Anthony Ogogo and Cody becoming "The American Dream" was met with mixed reviews with some applauding Cody channeling his father and others finding it off-putting in the current climate.
Speaking on Gamespot's Wrestle Buddies podcast, Cody revealed just how much time and effort goes into crafting his promos.
"This is probably gonna sound not cool, because a lot of wrestlers--especially wrestlers from my dad's era--will lie to you and say, 'Oh, I just came up with that promo right there on the spot,' which is bulls***. But whatever. I workshop my promos heavily for weeks on end. We have a full focus group for them, as crazy as that sounds," Cody admitted. "This is a data-based company, so I workshop everything I do. And because my promos have been held to a really high standard--people pick at them and find things in them and they put a microscope on them, which I love. With that in mind, when I was doing the promo I couldn't come up with a finish."
Cody continued by saying, "When I was just thinking about what the story really is, Anthony [Ogogo] is living the American dream for real. All the wrestlers, like Bruno Sammartino, who I referenced in my interview, who have come over, have lived the American dream here," he explained. "[With] what [that] stands for and [it being] Memorial Day weekend and fans coming back and just all that beautiful synergy and kismet, I ended up saying it once. 'He won't be wrestling the American Nightmare. He'll be wrestling the American Dream.' And when I said it, I just couldn't move past it. I thought, 'That's it. That's the ticket.'"
While Cody will be "The American Dream" instead of "The American Nightmare" against Ogogo, he said he wasn't using the moniker just to sell tickets for the match and then drew parallels to Batman.
"If I need to do it for a gimmick, it's the wrong thing," he said. "But if it's something that organically exists and comes up and it's just that name--it's more thematic and in my soul. Not to get all artsy and whatnot, but if it's [in my heart] more than it's [in my head], then it would be worth it and it would feel good. So it really just encapsulates everything that's happening. "I'm a big Batman reader and all the characters I love in Batman are all of the screwed up Robins. Damien's a killer. Dick is pretty much the only one with his head on his shoulders. Jason, obviously is Red Hood, Tim, etc. They've all got problems. And that's what it's like being a second-generation wrestler. We're a bunch of broken toys and this is one of those times where it feels like putting on the cape and cowl. If anyone can do it and do it justice and do it with honor, it could be me. Maybe not full-time and maybe not long-term, but for one night I'll be the Batman."
Cody's feud with Ogogo started when QT Marshall and members of The Factory turned their back on Cody and the Nightmare family.
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