Cody Rhodes addresses his viral “Raheem” line from WWE SmackDown
As seen during the February 6th 2026 edition of WWE SmackDown, Cody Rhodes addressed CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42. Cody stated, “I heard that it was gonna be a you know what measuring contest! Well, they’re both glad I’m not in it because I didn’t get the nickname Raheem for no reason!”
The line went viral on social media and while speaking to Under the Hood with J-Hood, Cody commented on it…
“I had told her [his wife Brandi] that I might say it, and I felt bad because I told her, and then she said, ‘Oh, you have to say it. It’s funny.’ I didn’t want to come at Roman or Punk in an adversarial way. I’m not wrestling either of you. You guys are wrestling each other, and it’s awesome.
I feel that those things will come. I wanted to come at it with a little bit of levity because I knew others were going to come at it from a different perspective. And I thought that was funny, but then I felt bad because I don’t ever want anybody to get married to a line. Like, ‘Oh, well, if I can’t say that…’ I did my field testing of it, and I hope I didn’t offend anybody with it.
I very much stood by it. And when you see ‘Manchester United’ in the bio and an anime picture as the avatar complaining about it, I’ve got to ask, what are we really complaining about here? This is more of a positive joke than there could ever be about gifted men.
Yeah, I can’t really be mad at that, and I can’t really walk that one back. I said I’m not going to spend my road to WrestleMania talking about two other guys. This is where it ends for me. And I picked a great place to do it. Charlotte, North Carolina was the place.
So yes, I said it, and that’s where I’m at.”