Cody Rhodes lost to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39 before finishing the story a year later, and on his What Do You Want to Talk About? podcast, he revealed that Diamond Dallas Page had given him the advice that helped him make peace with that first defeat.
Speaking with DDP on the Fanatics and WWE production, Rhodes recalled a conversation the two had heading into WrestleMania 39, his first main event, where Page posed a question Rhodes did not want to face.
“You asked me the question I didn’t want to answer. I didn’t want to answer it,” Rhodes said. “You said, ‘What happens if you lose?'”
Page reframed how he had put it. “I said, ‘Does it really matter if you do the job this time?’ Because the fans will want it so bad,” Page said. “And you go, ‘What if we lose momentum?’ I go, ‘What if you don’t?'”
Rhodes admitted the idea felt like a major risk. “But that’s crazy gambling, you know what I mean,” he said. Page’s response was blunt: “Paid off in spades.”
Rhodes came up short against Reigns at WrestleMania 39 in 2023 at SoFi Stadium, then defeated him in the main event of WrestleMania 40 the following year to capture the Undisputed WWE Championship and complete his quest. Looking back, Rhodes said Page’s broader philosophy is exactly the kind of thinking that has come to define him.
“When you say stuff like it’s either gonna be the worst thing that ever happened, or the best thing that ever happened to you, the problem is, you know what that means,” Rhodes said. “Great, I’m going to make this awful situation the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Page told him that mindset is not something to fight. “That’s what you do,” he said. “And when you finally… you’ll lose a little bit of that when you just say, ‘No, that’s what I do.’ Because that’s what he did,” a nod to Dusty Rhodes once again.
Rhodes credited the through line back to his father. “I’m just giving you back third generation,” Page added.
If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit What Do You Want to Talk About? with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
