Cody Rhodes On What He Wants His Legacy To Be When He Retires, How His WWE Character Was Created

Cody Rhodes is about to main event his fourth consecutive Wrestlemania.

The 40-year-old Undisputed WWE champion is now the face of the WWE and is in the midst of his third run with the title as he prepares for one of the biggest matches of his career with his former mentor, Randy Orton, at WrestleMania 42.

It's a major evolution for Rhodes, who was considered mostly a mid card and tag team act during his initial run with WWE (2007-2016). 

He had to go to the indies and AEW, where he served as the executive vice president since the company's inception, in order to solidify himself as a legit main event act. It was during that time frame that Rhodes created the "American Nightmare" character.

"I'd say it evolved," Rhodes told SportsBoom.us, in an exclusive interview. 

"I think I would have never been able to picture the whole concept of the American Nightmare, the tattoo, or even the logo, which now I see everywhere. It's evolving, it's finding yourself. I saw someone say online once that we should be a little easier on our young guys, about boxing them in, about saying, 'Hey, they'll never make it,' or in the case of me, 'He was Stardust. No way can he be in the main event.' And I'm living proof that's not accurate." 

"We grow with this job. I wanted the biggest spot on the planet, and I got it, and keeping it as hard as it could possibly be harder than getting it even. But this is definitely evolution. I had no plans for this. I'm lucky and really just honored. This is where it's led."

A Late Bloomer

Rhodes described how it was early on when he debuted at the age of 22 that it took him a "little longer" to hit his stride and prime. 

The three-time WWE Undisputed Champion became a maineventer at the age of 37 in the WWE. 

"A bit of a slow learner, no doubt, in a sense, that it took me a little longer to hit the stride and hit the prime," said Rhodes of himself. 

"But one of the benefits of that was I got to wrestle guys like Triple H, guys like The Undertaker. I got to really learn. I was thrown to the fire way too early in 2007 when I showed up. The byproduct of that is what you get to see now. The byproduct of that is nothing shakes me, nothing. I sweat no one, and maybe I should, maybe a little bit of fear is a good thing. But I've really been able to kind of find myself as a complete all around, not just what we do in the ring, but what we do outside of the ring in terms of how we represent WWE. You can list all those things, or you can just kind of know them, and that's an area where I've been very fortunate that my experience has lent to this moment where I can handle all of it, and hopefully can continue to handle all of it."

Legacy

When asked what he wants his legacy to be when he retires, Rhodes said he wants it to be that he "did the most" for his generation.

"I've said this a few times, and I think it's one that I feel pretty absolute about it, but I'd like my legacy to be that I did the most for my generation," said Rhodes. 

"I think I've started down that path all the way, stemming back to the original 'AEW: All In' to returning and this being WWE is the most prolific and beautiful era. The fact that I can be on the top with it, I want to make sure my contributions match in terms of what I leave behind. That's something that my dad's been really fortunate in a sense that after he passed, all these things have continued to have his handprints all over them. I'd love that in 15 years from now, if I had something similar, I'd be very lucky if that was the case," he concluded.