After very little deliberation, independent wrestling fans worldwide have come to a collective agreement to lie about always liking former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes made huge waves in the wrestling world last summer by requesting his release from WWE to try his luck on the the independent circuit. Even before his debut independent match at EVOLVE 66, fans began pretending they had been huge supporters of Rhodes since his days as Hardcore Holly’s tag team partner.
“WWE never used Cody properly. The writing team is trash,” said Chris Stafford, a fan in attendance at EVOLVE 66 desperately trying to sound sincere about his admiration for Rhodes. “I always thought Cody was better than Randy Orton in Legacy. Typical WWE, they really dropped the ball pushing that hack.”
Most independent wrestling fans had similar views as Stafford, but when pressed further about the details of Rhodes career they had trouble maintaining their facade of fandom.
“Oh dude, Cody is the man! Legacy was badass, and then they stuck him with that stupid Stardust gimmick right after. Of course, he never got to win any belts. It’s so awesome he’s going to get a chance to show what he’s really got here tonight. This is awesome!” said Johnny Valdez, in line for PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles 2016 as a “This Is Awesome!” chant broke out. When asked about his thoughts on Rhodes’s time as a member of Team Rhodes Scholars, Valdez replied, “Dude, you don’t have to make up tag teams to sound cool. Come on, join in on our chant — THIS IS AWESOME!”
When reached for comment about the outpouring of support he has received on the indies, Rhodes said, “If all these marks would’ve actually cared about my WWE career I wouldn’t have to wrestle in this damn middle school gym tonight. Randy will never have to put up with shit like this. Has anybody seen Randy Orton around here? No? I didn’t think so.”
The fans are holding true to their agreement, though. Stafford said, “I’ve been down with Cody since day one, and I’m so excited to see where 2017 takes him. He’s got big shoes to fill replacing the original founder of The Bullet Club, AJ Styles, in NJPW, but I’m sure he’s going to kill it.”
Photo by Anton Jackson.