WWE's Cody Rhodes Assesses Wrestling's Place In Culture

Cody Rhodes has assured pro wrestling fans that wrestling is currently in a great place, not just due to what's happening within the ring but outside of it. 

Rhodes, who featured in the "Street Fighter" movie alongside fellow wrestlers Roman Reigns and Hirooki Goto, said that having three wrestlers in one movie is a great moment for the wrestling community as a whole. He believes it shows how far wrestling has come and how firmly it has established itself in the mainstream.

"I really think it's a moment for all of wrestling to be proud. It's kind of our moment. I'm so lucky that I got offered this role, and you work your whole life and you want these things," he began in his conversation with Denise Salcedo. "You get three wrestlers in a movie. I remember going to see Guardians and people being curious how Dave Batista would be, and then the first big laugh was a Drax moment, was a Batista moment. I felt like, yeah, that's the wrestler. So, the fact that you have Roman, you have Goto, and me, and everyone's vastly different. I'm excited for wrestling."

"The American Nightmare" pointed out how business is booming in pro wrestling, and that it's no longer a struggle to be clubbed with mainstream entertainment anymore.

"We are in the best place the business has ever been," added Rhodes. "If you are a wrestling fan, a wrestler, someone who was casually in, or as hardcore as you and I, you'll remember the days when it wasn't a thing that we could all share. And it wasn't a thing that, you know, the great word 'mainstream.' Mainstream wrestling doesn't have to fight for mainstream anymore. Nick Khan as president and Triple H as an executive and a creative leader, we've put ourselves in the right place. I don't think we're in the rooms anymore where we feel like we shouldn't be."

Rhodes predicts that wrestlers will get more opportunities in other projects in the future if they do good work, something his friend John Cena has always said.