Cody Rhodes reveals idea he had to give his soul to someone besides The Rock, admits he needs to be produced

Cody Rhodes said he had an idea to give Simone Johnson, who is The Rock’s daughter (former NXT GM Ava), his soul after The Rock asked for his soul on Smackdown in February 2025 during the build to WrestleMania 41.

“When the Final Boss asked me for my soul, I thought, you know what would’ve been funny, is to relent and give my soul, but not to him,” said Rhodes during an interview with Simone Johnson on the What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast.”This is at a time when you were the NXT General Manager, to you. I thought, ‘That’s got legs. I’ll never say a word again. She’ll speak.'”

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John Cena ended up joining forces with The Rock after Rhodes turned down Johnson’s offer and Rhodes went on defend the WWE Undisputed Championship against Cena at WrestleMania 41. The match saw Cena beat Rhodes to become the new WWE Undisputed Champion.

During the interview, Simone said she believes that they would have done a really good job with the angle if Rhodes had given his soul to her instead of The Rock. Rhodes said that despite what people might think, he’s open to all ideas when it comes to his character. “We would’ve crushed that,” said Rhodes. “People are often like, ‘You don’t want to be a bad guy.’ I’m open to all things. Whatever is the best. I thought that would have been a real good spin.”

Rhodes also said during the interview that despite his status as a top star in WWE, he knows he needs to be produced because most of his ideas are bad. “You’ve heard this before, everybody needs to be produced,” said Rhodes. “iI’m so grateful to have the people that I have in my life and in management to produce me. Nine out of ten of my ideas are bad. I’m good for a banger idea, but nine out of ten are oof.”

The video of Rhodes’s interview with Simone Johnson follows: