Cody Rhodes On Early WWE Tenure: 'There Were Things That I Wasn't Doing Correctly'

Since the moment Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes returned to WWE in 2022, he's been reckoning with his father's legacy — personified not just in himself, but in the adopted step-siblings littering the WWE landscape. The young stars of "WWE NXT," who would rise to the top of the roster in the coming years, had been trained by Cody's father, the legendary Dusty Rhodes, and their bond with him was close enough that wrestlers like Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Bayley were affectionately known as "Dusty's Kids." In a new interview with Complex, Rhodes admitted that in hindsight, he understands why he wasn't part of that select group.

"I learned so much from being [aware] of what I was just missing, flat out," Rhodes said. "All the 'Dusty Kids' that I was jealous of and mad at, well, they were probably better than I was at the time. There were things that I wasn't doing correctly."

Specifically, Rhodes realized he lacked the physique that the upper echelon of stardom requires. Appropriately, he bulked up in the run-up to his long-awaited WWE title win at WrestleMania 40.

"It might feel alpha, it might feel toxic, but wrestling is still a heavyweight industry," Rhodes said. "When you're standing across from a Drew McIntyre or a Roman Reigns, and you're suspending the disbelief of this battle, this contest, being a heavyweight has helped me considerably. At 6 '1, to try and stay genuinely around 220 [pounds] is exactly where I need to be and then continue to push it and do it in a healthy way. Now [in WWE] we have access to nutritionists, dietitian ... being a heavyweight moving forward, [I'm] putting on that weight safely."

That having been said, Rhodes still wants to be an exciting in-ring competitor, and he's aware of the fact that modern wrestling often calls for a faster and more acrobatic style, which heavyweights aren't known for. For Rhodes, the trick is to find a balance, mastering the tools previous generations used so effectively while also not being afraid to go for broke.

"Everything that [trainer and ECW legend] Al Snow, 99.9% of traditional wrestling, my father, and how we long form plan things out, how we lead the audience, all that. There's greatness, and what's old can be new again, but also the game is speeding up," Rhodes said. "I'm not just saying pop off high spots for the sake of high spots. You want to make them matter. But for me, it became taking a risk ... You can't play it safe. You hear old timers, 'Oh, you got to conserve your body.' For what? We don't get to do this when we're 80. We get to do it now."

Rhodes teams with one of "Dusty's Kids," Roman Reigns, in a tag team match against Reigns' cousins, Solo Sikoa and Joseph Fatu of The Bloodline, at WWE Bad Blood on Saturday.