Triple H has told Cody Rhodes what he thought of a shot The American Nightmare took at him early in his AEW run.
Cody Rhodes made a statement of intent at AEW’s first-ever pay-per-view event, Double or Nothing, in 2019. On the show, the star had a classic match against his brother, Dustin Rhodes, but before going to the ring, he took a shot at Triple H and WWE when he took a sledgehammer to a throne modeled after the imagery used by The Game.
Triple H was Rhodes’ guest on the latest edition of What Do You Wanna Talk About? and during the episode, the topic of the throne smash came up. Cody brought up the subject himself, saying that the WWE Chief Content Officer had never mentioned it to him since he came back to the company in 2022. As it turns out, Triple H was pleased to see Rhodes making a name for himself.
“I saw it as your hammer because it was smaller than mine (laughs). No, look, that kind of sh*t to me is like, I remember when people brought it to me and showing it to me and I was like, ‘F**k yeah, good for him,’ you know what I mean?
“That’s the kind of sh*t you do. You’re trying to make a name for yourself, you’re trying to get out there, you’re trying to do some cool sh*t, trying to do some different stuff.”
The WWE Hall of Famer didn’t think there was any malice behind the moment and said that if he had, he would have picked up the phone.
“But believe me, if I would have thought there was malice in it, and maybe indirectly there was some at the time — I don’t know — but if I would have thought there was any serious malice in it, I would have called you and said, ‘Hey dude, like, are we okay?’
“Because I was so close to your dad, but then I always felt like a connection to you, and when you were here and it was difficult for me when you left because… I couldn’t over the top go like, dude, get the f*ck out of here and go out there and make a name for yourself and make yourself, what you said, desirable and we’ll f*cking come chasing after you and bring you back.”
For Triple H, it was a bold moment and all part of Rhodes getting out of the rut he had been in at the end of his first WWE run.
“Sometimes you got to get out of the rut you’re in. You just got to bite it off and go in a different direction. Make the left turn, right? And it was so difficult but, during that time, I remember thinking like, alright, that’s getting out there. That’s being bold and making a statement.”
Triple H Explains AJ Styles’ Post-Retirement Role In WWE
During the same episode, Triple H spoke about AJ Styles’ new role in WWE. According to the King of Kings, Styles didn’t want to leave the wrestling business even though he was hanging up his boots. This led him to explore several backstage roles before deciding to focus on scouting talent and helping develop younger wrestlers.
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.
