Cody Rhodes has reflected on his WrestleMania 42 injuries on ESPN’s Get Up, revealing that he wrestled the week following the event despite needing staples to the back of his head, stitches to the front of his head, and an eye that had been swollen completely shut.
Rhodes successfully defended the WWE Championship against Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42, with the in-ring main event resulting in head and eye injuries that have remained visible in his TV appearances. Rhodes has continued to compete despite the injuries, with his most recent match a victory over Sami Zayn on the May 22 SmackDown episode, which led directly into a GUNTHER attack ahead of Clash in Italy on May 31.
“I’m here, and I’m holding the WWE Championship; that’s the most important thing.”
He went deeper on the post-Mania medical reality.
“And all that concussion protocol and this thing was completely swollen shut, staples to the back of the head, stitches to the front of the head, I still found a way to wrestle the following week, so I’m built a little different. Yeah, I’m feeling real braggadocios about it. Gave me his best shot, and I came and wrestled the next week.”
After his return to WWE in 2022 and his appearance at WrestleMania 38, Rhodes suffered a torn pectoral muscle that threw his Hell in a Cell match against Seth Rollins into doubt. Rhodes defeated Rollins at the June 2022 PLE, very clearly still suffering from the muscle tear yet competing for nearly twenty-five minutes. He underwent surgery to repair the damage and was out of action until his in-ring return in the men’s Royal Rumble match in January 2023. Rhodes has separately admitted to being initially embarrassed by the pectoral injury.
Rhodes also addressed whether he believes GUNTHER has the home-turf advantage at Clash in Italy. He framed Europe as not a “monolith” and pushed back on the framing of the Italian PLE crowd being inherently aligned with GUNTHER.
GUNTHER has been pushing the storyline directly into the Clash in Italy build, with his recent Italian Wrestling Channel appearance teasing a future Brock Lesnar match after defeating Rhodes.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit ESPN’s Get Up and include a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
