Cody Rhodes On JBL - Mauro Situation, His Experiences With JBL
Former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes was recently a guest on The Other Guys Podcast and talked about whether he ever saw JBL 'bullying' anyone backstage, in light of recent reports that JBL's issues with Mauro Ranallo resulted in the commentator's WWE departure. Also, Mr. Brandi Rhodes argued that 'bullying' is an inappropriate term for describing workplace matters between adults.
When asked whether he had been exposed to JBL's alleged bullying behvaior, Cody indicated that he was around JBL extensively and never witnessed anything he would describe as bullying at the hands of the self-described 'The Wrestling God'. With that said, the formerly 'dashing' superstar acknowledged that he did see some ribbing going on.
"I worked really closely with JBL on the JBL [and] Cole Show because he let me take it over for three months. And I've known JBL since I first got there in 2007." Rhodes continued, "but the thing is, I never encountered that with John at all. Wrestling isn't for everybody though. It's not bullying sometimes when it's just playful ribbing. But I thought Mauro was a cool guy. I thought John was a cool guy. I never personally saw any bullying the entire time, and I was there for 11 years, and in every locker room. Did I see some ribbing? Yes. Did I see some young guys bringing beer into the locker room on their very first tour, at the end of the tour out of respect? Yeah! I saw stuff like that, but I never saw any bullying."
According to Cody, he agrees with Booker T, who recently said that after a certain age, conflicts between people should not be called 'bullying'.
"Booker T brought up something the other day that I think people, fans, got really mad because they jumped to conclusions. Maybe they didn't. He said, after a certain age, like high school, we should stop using the term 'bullying' and I wholeheartedly agree." Rhodes reflected, "if someone was bullying me in my job, as a grown man, I'm not saying you have to stand up to everybody and kick everybody in the balls, and ask them to step outside, but you could also start a dialogue with them themselves because we're grown ups here."
Check out the podcast here. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit The Other Guys Podcast with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: The Other Guys Podcast