Cody Rhodes has chosen a man he has previously gone to war with as his MVP for the past year in WWE.
2023 has been a successful year for many Superstars. Roman Reigns rounds out another year as the Undisputed Champion, Gunther has broken the record for longest Intercontinental Championship reign in company history and Rhea Ripley has dominated the women’s division, including winning the Royal Rumble from the number one position.
At the start of December, Shawn Michaels made the somewhat surprising pick of Dominik Mysterio as his MVP of 2023, crediting the former North American Champion for being an ironman and his incredible work on NXT. The American Nightmare was asked about this pick and if he was also in agreement.
Appearing on The Michael Kay Show, Rhodes stated that there are multiple parameters to decide who should be awarded the title of MVP. When choosing his pick, Rhodes believes that the title should go to Seth Rollins:
“That’s a loaded [question] because Dom is a prickly individual. If I was looking at it from tickets sold, merch sold, excitement over matches, genuine body of work, I’d say your MVP is…I’m not gonna say myself, somebody else hopefully will say me, but I’d say Seth Rollins, World Heavyweight Champion is probably somebody who’s more of the MVP.”
Having held the World Heavyweight Championship for most of the year and competing at a consistently high level on TV and house shows, Rollins remains one of the workhorses in the company.
When asked about Michaels’ pick, Rhodes admitted that he can see why the Hall of Famer chose The Judgment Day member:
Who am I to go against what Shawn Michaels said though. If Shawn Michaels sees something in Dominik Mysterio. That’s huge, because he’s not one that often will make that claim. Dom is…as difficult as he is to get along with, he is incredibly linked to the audience.
I have a feeling that if, Dom Mysterio walks out now, for those of you don’t watch WWE. He walks out and you can’t hear a word he’s saying because they boo him out of the building. I have a sense that Dom will be getting that same reaction two or three years from now but they won’t be boos, they’ll be cheers.
There is something incredibly special about the young man and I’m sorry that I’ve had to beat him so many times. But I look forward to what he does. He comes from good stock, obviously. His future is perhaps brighter than anybodys.”
Cody Rhodes Discusses Top AEW Star
Along with his own personal accomplishments in wrestling, Rhodes has also been responsible for expanding the wrestling industry as a whole. Helping to create All Elite Wrestling, Rhodes was a large part of the signing and rise of current World Champion MJF. While he has since stopped referencing a jump to the rival promotion, MJF frequently stated on AEW TV that he was interested in signing a WWE contract if the price was right. While this was all part of a storyline, Cody Rhodes assessed how likely it is that MJF could sign with WWE in the future.
H/t to SEScoops.