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That’s one way to put it. We are less than two months away from WrestleMania 40 and that means it is time to start getting ready for the biggest show of the year. This includes putting together the top matches on the card, which are not entirely clear so far. There have been several matches teased though, and now one of the people involved had something very interesting to say.
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Last week on SmackDown, The Rock made a surprise return and teased taking Cody Rhodes’ spot against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. The Rock appeared on the Pat McAfee Show this week and spoke about WrestleMania, confirming that he will be returning to the ring and that he is currently going through a training camp. He also spoke about Rhodes’ fans, who were upset at Rock taking the spot against Reigns, referring to them as “Cody Crybabies”. Here are some of the in-character comments, with transcription courtesy of PWInsider.com:
On The Reaction To His Return
“I feel it. I sense it. I feel it every day. I’d like to think, we try to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s going on, whether you’re in entertainment or not, just the stuff that’s going on around you. There’s been a lot of big developments, a lot of cool stuff that I’ve been lucky enough to experience these past couple of weeks. Member of the board of TKO complete full ownership of the name The Rock, which is a big, as you guys know, a big deal. And of course asking the question, now if The Rock goes out to eat, does he sit in a booth? No! Does he sit at the bar? No! Or does The Rock sit at the head of the table? The place went crazy. It went nuts. So yeah, there’s a lot going on. And yes, of course as what you’re talking about, in our world of professional wrestling, which we all love and enjoy in our world of WWE, that’s one of the best parts about it, is when you can anchor in to the passion of the fans. Yeah, today we got a press conference. 4 PM local, 7 PM Eastern. It’s gonna be at T-Mobile Arena, free to the public. It’s free to the public. Super Bowl weekend. Here we go, and history is going to be announced that history is going to be made. Cody Rhodes is going to make his decision on who he’s going to face in WrestleMania, even though we all have a feeling of the direction that is going. I cannot wait.”
On Training For A Return To The Ring
“So you, you talk about getting in shape and ring shape as you guys know, football players, like man, it’s whatever it is, the sport that you do it, you love it, you leave it. It’s tough to come back to it, right? If you guys had to put the pads back on, lace the cleats up, put the helmet back on, and roll, it’s tough to do. In a world of pro wrestling, I haven’t done that in a very long time. When I do go back to the ring at Wrestlemania, the most important thing is a training camp, which has already started. I have multiple rings set up over in Hawaii. I have a ring set up on the west coast, and we’re full on in camp. How do you feel? Hurting. Somebody’s hurting because it’s hard. It’s hard to adjust back. But in a way, it’s like riding a bike. Like I was very lucky in my career that I was somewhat of a ring general and knowing the ring and where to go and where to be at certain times when I needed to, but the training camp part of it is hard because you could work out on the wage. You could do all the stuff that you know you want to do. But until you go back in the ring And you take those falls, those slams, those suplexes, things like that. There’s nothing like it.”
On Why He Chose To Return To The Ring
“By the way, to answer your question, it’s an important one, on why? Yeah. Why? Dude, I love it. And that’s why. I don’t have to go back. I’ve been lucky enough to get this point, get to this point in my career. I love what I do, I love getting in there, and I love pro wrestling. It’s who I am, it’s what I was born to do, and I was born in this business. But also, from the second that Roman Reigns years ago said, I’m the head of the table and I’m the head of this bloodline. Graceful time. That’s when our story began. It’s converging now, it’s converging to WrestleMania. I understand the passion which we are gonna address and we’ll get to today.”
On Fans Reacting To Cody Rhodes
“Yes, I expected it We expected it because it’s right there again. You go back and again, you’d like to think hey, I got my finger on the pulse We all try to keep the finger on the pulse ultimately what the fans want and what they’re saying and Sometimes oftentimes as you guys know in sports and entertainment and anywhere what regardless of the vertical of business you’re in There’s a wave of noise that happens right out of the gate a minute that you want to just pause for a second. Let’s not make any rash decisions. Let’s wait and see how it all shakes out and see what happens from there. So it was just a matter of waiting. So now I was not surprised at it. I did expect it. But here’s the fun part about this is you have. And I’ve, by the way, I’ve known Cody for a long time. He’s a buddy of mine. The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, and my old man, soul man, Rocky Johnson, they were boys. They tag teamed together down in Florida. We used to go over to the Rhodes house a lot, all the time, when I was growing up. And we’re tight in that way. I love Cody. I love his passionate fans. Then, there’s the other passionate fans of Cody. And they’re called the what’s that? Oh, Cody Crybabies, yeah.”
And On The “Cody Crybabies”
“At the end of the day, look, you got the Cody Crybabies and you have the Cody fans and then you have Cody himself and there’s a clear distinction between the three. But The Rock says this, those Cody Crybabies, the ones for every ten tweets, they’re shoving a Chicken McNugget in their mouth. Every 20 tweets, they’re shoving two McNuggets up their ass. The Rock says this, All you gotta do is sit back, know your role, shut your mouth, and enjoy the ride that The Rock is gonna take your candy asses on. So hashtag that. Hashtag shut your bitch asses up. Hashtag Cody Crybabies. Yeah!…That’s the fun part of what we do. That’s wrestling. It’s pro wrestling. That’s WWE. And it’s awesome. And I can’t wait for for this afternoon.”
Rock has been doing a lot since returning. Check out the interview and what has happened with Rock since making these comments: