Cody Rhodes addresses WWE’s main roster being “older than ever”
Following the March 27th 2026 edition of WWE SmackDown, it was noted on social media that all of the male main roster champions in WWE were at least 40 years old (this is no longer the case with The Usos losing their tag team titles on RAW). While appearing on The Breakfast Club, WWE Champion Cody Rhodes addressed the roster being “older than ever” with the following comments…
“Well, it goes in phases. So, in the golden ’80s, we used to joke that a wrestler’s prime for the man was 35 to 42.
That’s because they needed all that experience psychologically. They worked town to town, and live crowds were everything. How do you work with a live crowd? How do you involve them in this? We’re not doing this just for each other, and we’re not doing this just for the camera—how are they involved?
That has now cycled back. A few years ago, they brought in what I’d say was like all freshmen on a varsity team. There’s this famous picture of me, CM Punk, and Matt Cardona, and we’re all babies, and we had won the big titles—but we didn’t really have a clue at that point. We didn’t have that experience.
So now, I think you’re getting back into where you’ve got—I know exactly who we’re talking about here—Roman Reigns, me, CM Punk, Randy Orton—the main events of WrestleMania, right?
I just like to say it’s a very experienced crew.”