Cody Rhodes is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, superstars in WWE today. The current WWE Universal Champion is a fan favorite for his babyface persona who stands up for all the right things. However, his controversial take on body shaming in wrestling caught many by surprise, even his die-hard fans.
Cody Rhodes recently talked about physical appearance in an interview with Flagrant. He claimed that physical appearance played an important role in the pro wrestling industry. The 39-year-old said that a lot of fans support wrestlers of all shapes and sizes, but they don’t truly understand the importance of the physique of a wrestler.
Rhodes added that most wrestlers wrestle in the ring without shirts, so it’s important for one to hit the gym. He blatantly disagreed with the notion of not body-shaming wrestlers. The American Nightmare justified it by saying that fans were paying huge amounts of money to see wrestlers compete, so they deserved to see superstars in their peak performances.
This is a vanity business. Theres this weird online contingent that doesn’t realize how important that (physique) is. We’re wrestling with our shirt off, folks, it’s ok to go the gym…fans be like “you can’t bodyshame wrestlers” – you’re paying hundreds of dollars to see us. Body shame me all you want.
Cody Rhodes via Flgrnt
A wrestler’s physique does play a very important role in his career. In the past, wrestlers with great bodies and tall heights were backed by WWE even if they lacked the in-ring skills to back it up. However, with recent changes in professional wrestling, the stereotype has blurred out a lot. Nowadays, if a wrestler has good in-ring skills, fans support him despite his body shape.
Cody Rhodes set to face Gunther to crown a new champion at Crown Jewel
Cody Rhodes shocked the world when he defeated Roman Reigns to win the WWE Universal Championship and end his historic reign. The American Nightmare has a chance to etch his name in the history books once again at Crown Jewel.
WWE’s CCO Triple H announced that Cody Rhodes will face off against Gunther. They will kick off an annual match where current top champions will face each other to crown the first-ever Men’s Crown Jewel Champion. Thus introducing a brand new title in WWE, which will consist of 50 carats of diamond to symbolize the greatness of the champion.
However, the new title will be for WWE’s Saudi Arabia events only. Superstars will not be carrying it around with them on weekly TV shows and other PLEs. Crown Jewel 2024 will mark the beginning of an interesting new concept in WWE. It will be interesting to see how WWE decides to use the new belt and how much status it will hold as compared to the other belts.
