Cody Rhodes Reflects on Emotional Night at Madison Square Garden Honoring Dusty Rhodes

cody rhodes

With his determination, hard work, and years of struggle, Cody Rhodes has finally established himself as one of the biggest names in the world of wrestling. Citing his remarkable chase for the World title, his gritty determination, undeniable connection with the fans, and unmatched aura, Rhodes is leaving an indelible mark on the WWE Universe.

The current Undisputed WWE Champion has been in this business for almost two decades. But Cody Rhodes’ first innings in WWE failed and was released in 2016. After leaving WWE, The Prodigal Son went on to rediscover himself and joined All Elite Wrestling, where he started finding his footing. He returned to the WWE in 2022 for the most extensive run of his career to ‘Finish his Story’, fulfilling his father’s dreams.

What did Cody Rhodes feel while honoring Dusty Rhodes at Madison Square Garden?

Cody’s father, The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, was one of the most respected veterans in the wrestling business. Many WWE superstars today credit him for their success in the WWE, including those who went on to become World Champions. However, Dusty himself never got to hold the WWE World Championship. This led to his son, The American Nightmare, making his goal to win the WWE Championship in honour of his legendary father.

The current Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes, was a special guest on the popular podcast, ‘The Pivot Podcast‘, where The Prodigal Son reflected upon the emotional night at Madison Square Garden honouring his late father, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes by hosting the older version of the WWE Championship, the same one his father won back in the 1980s.

Cody stated that he wished his father was alive to witness the Madison Square Garden show as it was the same venue Dusty Rhodes had the WWE title taken away from him after his match against Superstar Billy Graham. Rhodes claimed that once he passed the ball to him, the trajectory of Cody’s career changed forever. That’s why he gets emotional on the microphone, making that MSG show so special since it was when he was eight years old that he dreamt of being a pro wrestler.

There’s a suspension of disbelief in what we’re doing what’s competitive what is performance but with things like my story I really am I’m not able to be a character anymore in my life that’s not really who I am just because they watched me grow up they’ve seen some of the excursions I’ve taken and some of the things and the paths that I I took to then come back to WWE and truthfully at 8 years old that was my goal my goal was to do what I did last night and I you know I wish he had been alive for it and had that moment but after his passing the the ball started rolling in a completely different way and everything just started coming to me and unique and different per you know different routes than I thought but that was just I I often get emotional on the microphone there’s a good chunk of wrestling fans who is that is not what they are tuning in for they are not into this dude up there crying all the time you know they are not but that that was one of those ones and I was happy that we did it for the MSG crowd of course we’ll we’ll blast it out everywhere but just specifically to have that moment because the story was I was eight years old I saw that picture I wanted to be a pro wrestler so I got to live the picture.”

The American Nightmare had to deal with several roadblocks to accomplish his dream. Still, he overcame all the trials and tribulations to fulfil his father’s dream of becoming the new Undisputed WWE Champion in the main event of WrestleMania 40.

What are your thoughts on Cody Rhodes honouring Dusty Rhodes at Madison Square Garden? Share your thoughts in the comments!