Cody Rhodes comments on his return at the Royal Rumble and Sami Zayn's popularity at the time.
In the weeks leading up to the 2023 Royal Rumble premium live event, many fans began to speculate on who would win the Men's Rumble match and challenge Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39. Some fans made the case for Sami Zayn to win the match, as he was peaking in popularity at the time due to his storyline with The Bloodline.
Rhodes would go on to win the Rumble match, which is a move that many fans thought would backfire on WWE due to the popularity of Sami Zayn.
After Zayn was defeated by Roman Reigns at the Elimination Chamber premium live event, Rhodes would also go on to lose to the 'Tribal Chief' at WrestleMania.
In a new interview with Fightful, Rhodes recalled running into Zayn backstage at the Royal Rumble premium live event and how WWE came up with a idea to put the potential fan issues to rest.
"It was being discussed around us. Why don’t we discuss it amongst us. Bruce Prichard, Ed Kosky, Triple H, they all had the idea to put us in the ring together a Barclays Center. Not run from it, lets go towards each other and see. That was a moment where, my confidence, Sami is amazing. I don’t want to say it and throw it away. He is incredibly special. What he was doing is incredibly special. He was pulling a wagon. I wanted to be there to match him and hopefully also be incredibly special. I’m a big believer in, you can have it all. We have Jey Uso, his face is everywhere, the first guy to pin Roman in X amount of days, and here he is going for the one we all want. You can’t run for it. Run towards it. I like that. It brings out the best in all of us."
Elsewhere in the interview, Rhodes talked about knowing WWE was home after he returned to the company at WrestleMania 38. Fans can learn more here.
Fans can see Fightful's full interview with Rhodes in the video linked above.
