Damian Priest wants WWE fans to stop getting carried away with Cody Rhodes praise

Damian Priest has argued against the idea Cody Rhodes has been carrying WWE on his back for the past year.

The American Nightmare, who is set to challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40, has been backed by a groundswell of support from fans praising the work he’s done since returning to the ring in the 2023 Royal Rumble.

He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘Yeah, Cody’s been doing his thing and working hard. Well, let’s not forget, he’s not the only one that works hard in the WWE.’

The former United States Champion was talking just hours before yesterday’s explosive WrestleMania Kickoff event in Las Vegas which saw Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson slap Cody and drop an F-bomb in a confrontation with Triple H.

Seeing the Hollywood star come back into such a prominent role at the expense of other stars hasn’t sat well with some fans, but Damian is all for anything to keep people guessing.

‘It’s great for everybody. Whether you cheer, whether you boo, it doesn’t matter. You’re you’re into and you’re invested, and you’re investing your emotions,’ he said.

Cody Rhodes is the clear fan favourite (Picture: WWE)

Judgment Day have been a huge fixture on Raw (Picture: WWE)

‘And that is the entire point of what we do – to get an emotion out of our fan base. So this is a success across the board.’

He also pointed to the work The Rock has done ‘in his career and outside of wrestling’, and the way The Bloodline storyline has been brewing ‘for years’.

‘That’s intriguing. And this has been building for years. This is not something that just got thought this year,’ he noted. ‘It’s all positive in my view.’

The Archer of Infamy could play a major part in the WrestleMania build and fallout (Picture: WWE)

The Archer of Infamy and Judgment Day member also has the Money In The Bank briefcase, which guarantees him a world title match at any point before this summer’s Money In The Bank premium live event – which means whoever walks out of WrestleMania with the gold could be in trouble.

‘It’s exciting for me having the briefcase and a contract inside, that I could just spoil everybody’s [fun], whether you’re cheering or booing, I could frustrate all over you,’ he laughed. ‘It’s a good time to be a wrestling fan, man.’

Although Cody’s story is back on track, Damian knows how The Rock feels being put in a prominent spot when the fans have been clamouring for something else.

The Rock’s situation with Cody Rhodes has unlikely echoes of Damian’s Money In The Bank win (Picture: WWE)

When he captured the Money In the Bank briefcase last summer at London’s O2 arena, he do so at the expense of fan favourite LA Knight, with fans desperate to see him succeed.

‘LA Knight started like this meteoric rise, and everybody was enamored with him and wanting to give him everything immediately. Well, that’s not how real life works,’ Damian shrugged.

‘I was in the ring with him, unfortunately. So it wasn’t going to happen. And you know, when I won, and of course, I hear the reaction – I loved it!’

Damian’s victory was at the expense of fan favourite LA Knight (Picture: WWE)

The star – who has targeted plenty of fan favourites in recent months, including Bad Bunny at Backlash in Puerto Rico last May – insisted as long as he’s getting booed, he’s ‘doing his job’.

‘I know what I am. I’m a bad guy. I don’t want to get cheered,’ he added. The more I get booed, the more I’m doing my job the way I want to do my job, because that’s who I am.’

Looking to the future, he pondered: ‘The beautiful part about this business [is] it’s always gonna give you more, even if it doesn’t give you what you’d want today. There’s going to be a tomorrow, so you never know. And I’m excited for all of it.’

WWE Elimination Chamber: Perth airs Saturday, February 24 at 10am. WrestleMania 40 heads to Philadelphia on April 6 and 7. Tune in to the shows live via the WWE Network.

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