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It has been over a year since Cody Rhodes returned to WWE, and he's adequately cemented his spot as a top babyface. Rhodes carrying his American Nightmare persona over to the Stamford-based company is one of the biggest reasons for his success. However, the star has now revealed he had to fight for it all.
Fans were pleasantly surprised when Downstait's "Kingdom" played at WrestleMania 38 as Cody Rhodes walked out to face Seth Rollins. While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Rhodes revealed that WWE had a different version of the track that, as he admitted, would have annoyed the fanbase had it been utilized after his return.
Cody was quite adamant about his "Nightmare brand" being presented to the WWE audience without alterations, and the theme song was arguably the most "important piece," as he explained in the chat.
"There was a version of my song; if I can find it, I'll send it; the original version of my song was different. As an option, I said, 'I think the audience would be really mad.' Kingdom is, I'll follow you till the end; we can't discredit that. We have to have that. So that was probably the most important thing; we're going to bring the Nightmare brand as it is; probably the most important piece is that song. I didn't know it, but I was fighting for it." [12:04 - 12:34]
Cody Rhodes disclosed details of his conversations with WWE, stating that he wanted to continue coming out to "Kingdom" as it had a lot of significance in his career.
The former Intercontinental Champion didn't change his entrance music despite wrestling in Ring of Honor, NJPW, and AEW, among others, on the independent scene. Hence, he had no intentions of doing it in WWE.
"But the one thing I was clear about was that the music had to stay the same. The reason the music had to stay the same was the music wasn't just at AEW. The music was at Ring of Honor, New Japan, and every independent I could possibly go to all over the world; that was the music." [11:31 - 11:45]
Cody Rhodes jokes about WWE dubbing a line from his entrance theme song
The word "pro wrestling" was believed to be banned for a long time during the Vince McMahon regime, even though the rules are much more relaxed these days.
Cody Rhodes' theme song begins with a line he himself recorded in his house, "wrestling has more than one royal family." The 38-year-old felt that WWE would replace 'wrestling' with sports entertainment, considering how strict they previously were regarding certain words and phrases.
Fortunately for Rhodes, Vince McMahon allowed the former AEW star to execute his vision, and it seems to have worked out well for all parties.
"Including the line that I recorded on my iMac in my living room; gosh knows when 'Wrestling has more than one royal family.' For sure, they were going to take that out. For sure, no way! Somehow, somewhere, we'll get there and say sports entertainment, like will be dubbed over the wrestling." [11:46 - 12:03]
Do you like Cody Rhodes' entrance theme song? Share your reactions in the comments section below.
Please give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
