Ricky Saints has opened up about the importance of Cody Rhodes to his career, as Rhodes was instrumental in bringing Saints to the national spotlight in 2020 during an open challenge for the TNT Championship in AEW. He has remained a mentor and close friend to the current NXT star.
Speaking on the Battleground Podcast, Saints elaborated on the unique perspective Rhodes provides. He noted that Rhodes has an uncanny ability to identify areas of improvement and “little pockets” that Saints might overlook. Because they do not live near one another, their in-person interactions are rare, making the time they do spend together valuable.
“The friendship in itself is great because, you know, I don’t know if he sees a younger kid in me [like] when he was first starting out. I don’t know. I would think so, but I really don’t know. But he’s great in the fact that there are things that I’m figuring out on my own. And there are little pockets that I kind of miss, right? He is great at identifying those pockets and giving me words of wisdom that allow me to ultimately guide myself to what it is that I should be learning or figuring out.
He’s really, really good at that. He’s really good at giving you a perspective and you ultimately being like, ‘Oh, okay. I get it now.’ It’s so undervalued in that sense, because you’re usually used to people like physically showing you this or doing that, right? Since we don’t live very close to each other, it’s hard. So when we do have these moments where we do see each other and we talk, the conversations are in depth. They have such a deep magnitude to them of like life and sh*t outside of wrestling, you know what I’m saying? It covers all of it. So he’s been very impactful in my career and in my life too, personally and professionally. So I can’t really thank him too much [for] that.”
Saints has been a featured part of the NXT brand since making his debut on February 11, 2025. He quickly made a mark on the brand, eventually defeating Oba Femi at No Mercy in September 2025 to capture the NXT Championship. Though he recently lost the title back to Femi at NXT Deadline in December, he is already back in the championship picture.
This Saturday at Vengeance Day, Saints is scheduled to challenge Joe Hendry for the NXT Championship, looking to become only the third individual to hold the title on multiple occasions.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Battleground Podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
