Cody Rhodes Reveals New Details About Bus Catching Fire Ahead Of WWE WrestleMania 40
Cody Rhodes has not shied away from extreme spots across his career, like the flaming table spot during his AEW match against Aleister Black or his intense Hell in a Cell match against Seth Rollins in 2022. However, Rhodes once flirted with actual disaster when the bus he was sleeping in caught on fire, leaving him with a narrow opportunity to escape.
During his interview of Becky Lynch on his "What Do You Wanna Talk About?" podcast, Rhodes recalled his bus blowing up and having to sleep on Lynch and Rollins' bus. "The part of the story people don't know (...) before I went to bed, I might have had a few drinks," he said, claiming he slept there during WrestleMania season to not stress his family because he was stressed out. "I was pretty tired, so I'm definitely really excited to go to sleep for like 30 minutes. And then I hear, like, just a loud – I don't really know how to describe it – just like, two bangs, and I thought they were gunshots."
Rhodes was then told to get off the bus, and recalled that he was surprised at how massive the fire was, comparing it to the Mummy ride at Universal Studios. "And then I just see this giant hole and this fire running up and down the bus – and again, had a few drinks, super tired – I grab my picture of my family, I grab my boots, and I'm looking at the bus and I'm looking at the bus like 'I had more time...'"
Nobody was hurt in the end, but Cody Rhodes' bus was unsalvagable
Cody Rhodes further claimed that, in his drunkenness, he believed he could run back in the bus to get more of his things but instead ran to Seth Rollins in the freezing weather that night. "He was just looking at me like 'You okay, man?' He knew there was a fire, of course, he's like – but he's looking at me and he could tell I'm shell-shocked," he added. "I'm in, what I would qualify as like pajamas, like Cesaro-high shorts and like just a tank top and I'm just shaking and he's just, like, looking at me."
Rhodes recalled that two other men were trying to break through the bus with a hatchet to stop the spread of the fire, but that the fire department was still on their way. "Then they start backing Miz's bus up, I'm like: this thing's gonna blow up! This bus is gonna blow up!" he exclaimed. "And then the fire department – God bless the Philadelphia Fire Department – but also, they destroyed the bus. Because they just got up there, and they blasted it, and then they drove off!" Rhodes further claimed that the fire department didn't even stop to inform them they were done, but later that same day, he shot a "fake" arrival shot on the same burnt bus.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "What Do You Wanna Talk About?" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.