Last month Randy Orton punched his ticket to WrestleMania when he won the men’s Elimination Chamber match. The Viper then proceeded to sign a contract for a title match with Cody Rhodes on the Grandest Stage of Them All, and he turned on Cody immediately after the contract was signed.
Randy Orton is clearly being positioned as the heel in his title feud with Cody, but the fans have been openly cheering for Randy instead of The American Nightmare on the road to WrestleMania.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Cody Rhodes talked about the reactions that Randy Orton has been receiving in recent weeks and he noted that he doesn’t take it personally.
“I don’t take it personally. I think maybe when I was younger I did. And certainly there’s no absolute in that, I’m sure some things kind of slip through the armor a bit and you feel it. But my thought in terms of fans, today, more than ever, is that we are out there and whatever their emotional need is, if they need to cheer for you, if they need to cheer for him, if they need to yell at you — I can’t put a governor on that, and I will not. Tully Blanchard rules in terms of for me when he’d say, ‘The loudest, the longest [reaction].’
“I can’t be angry at them, whatever it is they need. If they’re cheering for Randy as he seeks [World title reign number] 15 even with the things he did, okay. I’m not there to try and tell you you’re wrong or right. There’s no wrong way to be a fan. So right now it hasn’t got to me. I’ll be honest, sometimes maybe it will. But right now? No.”