Back in 2023, Cody Rhodes took his career to the next level when he won the Royal Rumble match for the first time in his career. The American Nightmare set his sights on Roman Reigns and he went on to challenge The Tribal Chief for the Undisputed WWE Championship in the WrestleMania 39 night two main event.
Heading into WrestleMania that year it seemed that Cody had a lot of momentum, which is why fans were absolutely shocked when Roman Reigns defeated Rhodes to retain the title.
WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page reflected on the match during a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, and he noted that Cody was originally told he was going to win.
“I look at him losing that first time, I’ll never forget that conversation that we had because he was told he was going over that first time, for a long time. Then things started to change, and they do. They just change. I would never believe something as big as that was going to happen until I was on my way to the ring and there was no way they could change it.
“But I said to him, I said, ‘Really? Is it really that bad if you don’t win? Is it really? Because I knew you were going to say that.’ I said, ‘You know man? You don’t win, they want it more.’ And then following year, where are you? And he has to go through the hurdles with The Rock and all of that.
“There’s one thing I try to instil in everyone, because Cody’s not the only person that I talk to coming up through the business. I talk to a lot of kids, men and women. Something that looks like the worst thing that happens to you, in my life, in my vision, the video game I’m playing, it has always been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
H/T Cultaholic