Cody Rhodes: “I don’t think I’d ever turn heel because there’s just too much of a connection with the people”
While appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Cody Rhodes commented on if it’s more fun to be a heel (bad guy) or a babyface (good guy) in wrestling. Here was Cody’s response…
“Everyone’s going to tell you ‘bad guy,’ but I think that’s because they haven’t experienced what a good guy can really be. Bad guy is fun — you can fall on your face and make a spot out of it. You can stumble on your words in a promo and make a moment out of it. Traditionally, the bad guy leads the match. So yeah, bad guy is fun. But a good guy — or good girl — that fans are truly invested in? That they came to see, wearing your shirt, holding your sign? That’s special.”
“There’s always this argument: ‘Oh, Cody should turn heel. Will he turn?’ I don’t think so. They can boo all they want. If certain people decide, ‘Yeah, Cody’s a heel to me,’ that’s fine. But I don’t think I’d ever turn, because there’s just too much of a connection with the people who were on board with me from the beginning.”
“Every heel out there now has the best social media, the best one-liners, and most babyfaces are left standing there like, ‘Well… what do I do?’ To be a really good babyface, you have to rise above all of that — and that’s very hard. Jey Uso is a great example. He’s so, so popular. But it’s not easy. It’s not easy to make that connection with the audience — and it’s even harder to keep it. Babyfaces get beat up a lot on TV. To me, it’s such a gift.”