Cody Rhodes has given some insight into his conversation with Randy Orton after their WarGames match at WWE Survivor Series.
Despite The American Nightmare being a part of WWE for over 18 months, his interactions with Orton have been extremely limited. Prior to Survivor Series, the only time that the former Legacy members have been in the same match together since Rhodes’ return was during the April 25th 2022 episode of the red brand, where Rhodes teamed with RK-Bro and Ezekiel to defeat Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and The Usos.
Shortly after this, both men would be out for a number of months due to injury. Rhodes famously tore his pec hours before his Hell in a Cell match with Rollins in June before returning at the Royal Rumble. Orton was written off TV in May on an episode of SmackDown as he suffered a back injury that many thought could have ended his career before making his return at Survivor Series. With the longtime friends reunited, they had time for a brief conversation inside the cage.
Appearing at the press conference after the show, Rhodes revealed that both he and Orton thanked each other after the bell:
“At the end of the match, Randy said to me, ‘Thanks for the phone call.’ And I wanted to tell him ‘Thanks for my career.’ I keep thinking this is going to end and I couldn’t have gotten to where I got had I not been around Randy. Randy is so wild and chaotic and you hear all these funny stories about him and all this nonsense, but as a performer, a professional wrestler, WWE superstar. What an outstanding mentor he was to me truly.
Rhodes would continue by looking back fondly on his friendship with Orton and how he always looked up to The Viper:
I’ll never forget standing in the ring at the Royal Rumble when he won, pointing at the star WrestleMania sign and just thinking, ‘I want to be like him.’ That’s [as] nice as I’m gonna get about [him]. I was really touched.
Hall Of Famer Jokes That Cody Rhodes Owes Him Money
Rhodes is currently the number one babyface on Raw and perhaps number one in the entire company, but it wasn’t always this way. During the early 2010s and as Intercontinental Champion, one WWE Hall of Famer stated that they wanted to work with Cody Rhodes and had no problem losing to him either. When commenting on the rise of Rhodes, the Hall of Famer joked that The American Nightmare owes him a check.
H/t to SEScoops.