RADICAN’S TAKE: What was Cody Rhodes trying to accomplish with his comments about having a “strange” relationship with Roman Reigns

​​Cody Rhodes comments about his relationship with Roman Reigns during his March 13 interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet left me a little confused. Rhodes characterized their relationship as strange when asked if they had crossed paths while filming Street Fighter. Rhodes plays a patriotic pilot named Guile in the movie while Reigns plays Akuma.

“We actually, I’m gonna tell you something, we had one day on set, and the way the set was, and he could probably reiterate this, I think they thought we were going to fight or have issue,” said Rhodes. “Because they were very cognizant on the radios of stepping out with Guile, Akuma will be coming on. They were very cognizant of we would not cross paths and we did because I had to tell him the direction of one of the trailers.

“That was our only moment and it was very awkward, like the weirdest, that’s a crazy relationship. I have nothing but admiration for what he’s done and accomplished, but I don’t know what it is. I don’t know, I don’t even like talking about it because I don’t know what it is. It’s just a very strange relationship.”

Rhodes comments sound like something straight out of an episode of WWE Unreal on Netflix to set up a future angle. It’s natural that Reigns and Rhodes might not be best friends behind-the-scenes with both men firmly cemented on the top of the WWE roster. It is hard to believe that people working on the set thought they were going to have an issue if they crossed paths on a movie set since they were originally scheduled to main event WrestleMania this year until plans changed multiple times with WWE most recently settling on Rhodes defending the WWE Undisputed Championship against Randy Orton at WrestleMania.

Rhodes’s comments almost sound like WWE is laying the groundwork for a future third match between Rhodes and Reigns and what better way to do it than to stir up the belief that neither man likes each other behind the scenes? WWE has run the match in the main event slot at WrestleMania two years in a row, but changing the dynamics of their issues and making people believe they genuinely do not like each other might not be the worst thing in the world for their rubber match.

There have never been any credible reports of any real life tension between them that I can recall, so why would Rhodes make these comments now, especially during WrestleMania season when he has the opportunity to talk about his match against Orton at WrestleMania? My best guess is that this is an attempt to freshen things up for both men, as it feels that are varying levels of fatigue within the WWE audience when it comes to seeing both men in prominent matches.

There’s also the possibility it’s nothing at all, but when it comes to top stars talking about each other in the media, the  comments made are usually calculated. Cody is very media savvy and knows what he’s doing when he makes high-profile appearances to promote himself and the WWE product.

We’ll never know how fans would have responded to Rhodes and Reigns main eventing a third straight WrestleMania this year, but with the way the fans responded to Reigns’s Royal Rumble win and the onset of fatigue in some markets for Rhodes as a top babyface, I would think the odds would have been good for a portion of fans to voice their displeasure with the match. 

Rhodes was asked if the issues he had were with Joe Anoa’i the person or Roman Reigns the wrestler and he muddied the waters even further about the dynamics of their relationship. “I don’t know if there’s a difference and the same as me. Ask him that damn question,” said Rhodes. This sounds like a quote that would hit home with the WWE for the shock factor, although I’m not even sure what Cody is even trying to say with this comment, as it is just odd to say you can have conflict with a character that someone portrays. 

I think these comments from Rhodes are worth throwing a pin in to revisit in the future.. WWE fans are likely to respond to a match between Rhodes and Reigns that is deeply personal as opposed to another match between the two without anything changing dramatically with how their dynamic on screen is portrayed. 

(Sean Radican has been Pro Wrestling Torch for over 22 years. He has covered the independents, ROH, and NJPW in-depth over the years in addition to also watching all the major promotions in the U.S. PWTorch VIP members get access to his weekly Radican Worlwide podcast looking at a variety of news topics from the past week and then an in-depth Go-Home segment with a guest on a big topic of the week. You can contact him at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. You can follow him on X @SR_Torch and on Bluesky @SeanRadican.)