Bully Ray Loved Cody Rhodes' WWE SmackDown Promo Because He Was 'Telling The Truth'
It's been nearly a week since last week's "WWE SmackDown" saw Pat McAfee reveal himself as Randy Orton's mystery caller by helping Orton attack his WrestleMania 42 opponent Cody Rhodes, and it remains arguably wrestling's biggest talking point. So far, very few have leapt to the defense of the angle, which also saw McAfee cut a promo bashing WWE's current product and WrestleMania ticket sales, followed by Rhodes himself cutting a retort promo that referenced the NWO, Disco Inferno, TKO executive Ari Emanuel, and other worked shoot elements.
But there is at least one person defending Rhodes' aspect of the angle: Bully Ray. On Monday's "Busted Open Radio," Bully presented his case as to why Rhodes' promo mostly worked, aside from the line about Disco Inferno. For Bully, it was the authenticity of Rhodes' performance, with Bully suggesting that Rhodes was legitimately ticked off at what happened, based on Bully's previous experience seeing Rhodes upset in the locker room.
"What's the one word that I said I need my pro wrestling to be? Real," Bully said. "Everything that Cody said was very real. ... The words don't matter to me. It's the tone. That was Cody's genuine angry voice. That's not pro wrestling mad, that's real-life mad. The whole front end of that promo is, 'F you ... whoever thought that Pat McAfee would be a good idea for this.'"
"It was actually F you to anybody who thought including anybody in this was a good idea. How do I know that's an eff you to anybody that thought this was a good idea to include anybody? Because at the end he said, 'This is about two guys with 20 years of history and a pro wrestling match. You should've left it alone.' That's why that's your favorite Cody promo, because it's real. It's genuine. It's from the heart. It's passionate. There's nothing canned about it."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription