WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Explains His "Scorched Earth" Mentality About Turning Heel

Rhodes will not embrace the hate for this very reason.

By Liam Crowley

When will Cody Rhodes embrace the hate again? After three years of working as a heel on the independent circuit, doing everything from flipping off the Ring of Honor crowds to making the Bullet Club family tear itself apart from within, Rhodes returned to full-time good guy status when All Elite Wrestling launched in 2019. Rhodes was welcomed by the AEW faithful as its top babyface and he waved the company flag strongly in that role for two years. In Summer 2021, something shifted. Fans began to boo the American Nightmare incessantly to the point where his reactions were indistinguishable from that of a bad guy. Regardless, Rhodes remained a babyface.

Since returning to WWE in April 2022, Rhodes has been a fully-fledged hero, receiving praise from WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque for being the most traditional babyface that professional wrestling had seen in decades. Even though he still receives overwhelmingly positive reactions, there are still cries for Rhodes to turn to the dark side once again.

Cody Rhodes Explains Why He Won't Turn Heel

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(Photo: AEW, WWE)

Don't expect to see the American Nightmare go full Homelander anytime soon.

Speaking to The Pivot, WWE Champion Cody Rhodes addressed the "growing sect of fans" that are pushing for him to turn heel.

"There is beauty if you can commit to being a bad guy. It's a unique space creatively. You have to be really vulnerable, open, and open and blood-hungry in terms of how you are on the microphone. There is a growing sect[ion] of fans that want to see that happen for me at some point," Rhodes said. "If you're really wishing for that, it's scorched Earth. Then you might be, 'We don't like that.' You have to really go scorched Earth, and in 2024, that is hard for anyone to understand. You're not meant to be cool. You're not meant to be the next Rock. You're meant to be a bad guy."

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Rhodes's reasoning stems from how he views the professional wrestling business. He prides himself on taking on the full responsibility of whatever role he is in. When he was AEW Executive Vice President, Rhodes actively scouted talent and helped bring stars like Darby Allin and MJF into the company. Now as WWE Champion, Rhodes makes it his mission to make every town, compete at every live event, and fulfill as much media opportunities as possible. To apply that mindset to being a heel would truly mean "scorched Earth" for Rhodes, as he would shed just about his entire identity in order to realize the character's full potential.

"It's very hard to be a heel today. What is a heel?" Rhodes continued. "If a heel is trying to actively take something away that you like, You'll hear people in wrestling say there is a wrong type of heat. There is truly no such thing as the wrong type of heat, as long as you can manage it. As long as you can take it. Today, people get canceled for everything. Every hour, somebody is getting canceled and uncanceled. A heel's job is to get canceled. A heel's job is to not be cool and not sell merch. Most people are uncomfortable in that spot. Most people don't want to explore being hated."

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