Last year, WWE superstar Cody Rhodes was on the verge of “finishing the story,” a phrase that captured the collective anticipation of the WWE universe. They were fervently hoping for the blonde protagonist to clinch the one belt that had always been out of reach for his bloodline — the WWE Universal Title.

Now, 12 months later, Rhodes joins Billboard on Zoom while proudly displaying a new addition to his collection. This shiny new toy, a symbol of his hard-earned victory against the once-indomitable Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 this past April, would undoubtedly bring a smile to the face of his late father, Dusty Rhodes.

“When we spoke, I did not have the North Star of our business in terms of the WWE Championship,” says Rhodes, referencing our 2023 conversation about his documentary, American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes. “It’s a nice piece of hardware to bring around with me now.”

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Undoubtedly the new face and quarterback of WWE, Rhodes is enjoying his champion run, including wins over AJ Styles, Logan Paul and Kevin Owens. Rhodes’s popularity has also crossed over to the music side, where he spoke to Jay-Z last month at Michael Rubin’s Fanatics Fest, shot a commercial with Metro Boomin for the WWE’s upcoming premium life event Bad Blood, and was a presenter this past week at this year’s ACM Awards.

Bad Blood will occur this Saturday (Oct. 5) at 6 PM EST on Peacock in Rhodes’ home state of Georgia. His homecoming should be memorable, as he’ll team up with his one-time adversary Roman Reigns in a tag-team match against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. Billboard spoke to Rhodes about working with Metro Boomin for their Bad Blood commercial, WWE enjoying its golden era, chatting with Jay-Z and more.

You thought I was crazy for giving you the LeBron comparison when you returned to the WWE. You have to see the similarities now in terms of you winning your first belt and him winning the ring in Cleveland, right?

Well, he came back home and he got it for the city. In terms of his story, you really had to hang in, you had to stay on-board. It took a detour in terms of him being away from his home. Then to come back and to fulfill that promise is incredibly special.

For me, I think a lot of people maybe looking outside of my journey in pro wrestling and sports entertainment this was how it was meant to be and this was how it was always gonna be. I look at this with the moment that we’re in now and it’s a gifted period. It’s a chapter I did not truly expect. I had taken such a detour. I had been so away from my roots and my original goal in the industry that new goals had popped up. But to be able to drop back in, to go and get [the title] and to be one of the leaders in its most prolific era for a company that’s really has had prolific eras, I’m not taking this for granted. This is a very blessed time.

After 20 years, Bad Blood is coming back to your state this Saturday. Talk about this full-circle moment for you in terms of coming home with the title in-hand.

It always feels Game of Thrones-like in a sense. Here’s the belt from formerly the World Wide Wrestling Federation and the Northeast Territory and I was just this Georgia Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW kid. To be able to be the first Rhodes to have it, but also bring it back to where The Omni once stood. I mean, I got goosegumps when they put The Omni in the scene from [Smackdown’s] Georgia Tech [episode] because being able to be on the ground of that building and to have this [belt], was not expected. It’s a homecoming. I’m very much looking forward to it.

Speaking of the Georgia Tech episode where you and Roman met up and cut an intense promo, that was high-level cinema on display. 

I think wrestling fans, if they could be sitting in the stands at Bobby Dodd Stadium when it happened, they would have been so rewarded because the thing that is not being reported and by no means needs to be reported, is none of the verbiage was discussed — none of it. Maybe he thought I’m going to make my point and I thought I was going to make mine as well, but to be able to have that moment and to say things to one another [was special].

When pro-wrestling is at its best, it’s very real. That situation that we find ourselves in at WWE now with the individual who carried it through the pandemic and who held it for all those days as the perennial main-eventer now not being the quarterback of that company, that’s a very real thing. Roman has my utmost respect. If anything, he pulled something out of me that I didn’t know I had. I hope I did the same for him.

Why do you think Roman’s redemption tour is having such a strong start with the fans?

What’s not to like, right? In terms of confidence, we saw the fitness TikTok of how dialed in physically he is and what he’s already contributed. You’ll hear people say, for so long that they were trying, and trying and the fans were rejecting it. I think if you look back at those times, it’s all contextual and different reasons. Perhaps, they didn’t react the way you thought, but I think you’re now seeing for the first time not just admiration, not just, “I wanna cheer for this guy and buy his t-shirts,” you’re seeing respect.

When you have the respect of the fans, you’re in rare air. He has the respect of every fan. People forget WWE has a massive audience of young children, and they’re just incredibly important as us. When you have their respect and they can look at you and feel that presence, man, it’s a classic case of what’s not there to like. Now, if I look at it from a narrative perspective and look back at Smackdown and Raw, he’s made a lot of people’s life a living hell. That could be what’s not to like, but going into Bad Blood, I’m doing my best not to look at any of that.

You recently spoke to Jay-Z at Fanatics Fest. How does it feel seeing wrestling so valued and appreciated by not just hip-hop, but pop culture, overall?

I have to thank Michael Rubin at Fanatics for that. He was just having a normal, regular chat like he does with somebody like Jay-Z. That whole moment was incredible for me to go Fanatics Fest, first time ever, and to hear from the horse’s mouth himself what I only been told about some of WWE’s merchandising numbers and my own specifically. To be in the top five of all of the athletes represented, as a kid, trying to tell everyone around him, “Hey, wrestling is really cool. You should come over to my house, you’ll like it. Hey, come to the show with me, you’ll be a fan,” to see it hit this mainstream level again, I don’t wanna take it for granted.

With Bad Blood, Triple H and Nick Khan, they asked me to do the packages and sizzle reels with Metro Boomin. I’m thinking, “Yes!” This is what we do. This is what we want. To be able to have done the stakeout [with Metro] and hopefully it goes somewhere as we head towards Bad Blood, that was such a really sweet moment. It was really cool to connect with someone like that, not just an artist in a different medium, but with someone trying to tell stories like how we’re trying to tell stories.

You’ve become a beloved figure in the Black community, from people on social media changing your name to “Raheem Rhodes” to even Arkansas Pine Bluff, an HBCU, having its school band play your theme song “Kingdom” at their college football game. How does all the love feel?

You mentioned the band. They played that on primetime when they played Arkansas, and it’s quite possible you might see them playing it live in the State Farm Arena at Bad Blood. That was incredibly touching. In terms of your question, I’m always so careful about how I answer because the truth is, I don’t know. I just want to do all I can to keep it going. That’s such an honor.

I know some of the memes are meant to be funny and I’ve seen the name and all that stuff, but that was my dad’s biggest fan base. I could see things like the Southern Baptist church and things that connected the tissue. With me, I’m not sure so much, but I don’t wanna do anything to disrespect it or lose it, because not only do they do that fun stuff online, the community has also been really active in the arenas and as part of the journey. I don’t get to WrestleMania 40 without that group of fans. I’m touched just hearing it. I try to do everything that I can not to screw it up.

You mentioned your father, and there’s a quote that you’ve said a while back that’s resurfaced on social media: “Sometimes, I just revert back to Dusty’s kid. I’m trying to chase his ghost and it’s a pretty hard ghost to chase.” Even after finally winning that elusive belt that once haunted your family, do find yourself still chasing that ghost of Dusty, professionally or personally?

In the latter, I remember saying this in my documentary: Following him as a pro wrestler is one thing, but he was a superb father. You know when you meet someone who had a superb father, mother or both, that’s a special thing you have an opportunity to do as a parent. Now I have the opportunity with my daughter, Liberty, and I just hope that I can be remotely as good as he was with me because he was absolutely the best parent you could possibly get.

In terms of chasing the ghost, it might feel or sound somewhat negative and by no means is it, that’s the greatest ghost to chase. This guy had such an impact on pro wrestling and sports entertainment. Time has passed and there’s still things that he’s linked to. Just the cage dropping, that’s a Dusty concept and here I am watching the cage drop on the Smackdown premiere. These were things that he brought to the game and I always said after a certain point in my career that I want to be the most influential person of my era.

That’s a difference between being the best champion, the biggest superstar, and the best in-ring wrestler. I always wanted to be the most influential person in my generation, and the reason was is because I felt that he was. His influence is still being felt today. That ghost, I gladly try to get to as close as possible.

Your buddy Jey Uso won his first singles title after 14 years in the business. Knowing the struggle it took for you to reach that mountaintop, from a fan’s perspective, what was it like seeing him being able to capture that moment for himself?

That’s the business, right? That’s the good stuff. I remember Kerry Von Erich hitting the backslide on Ric Flair. I remember Bret Hart putting Ric Flair in the sharpshooter. The feeling of what we do in the ring, the stories being told, the good stuff. So much surrounds our wrestling space whether it’s controversy or whether it’s internal discussion of this and that, ultimately, the most important thing we do is in the ring.

Jey Uso is so beloved, and they got to have this real moment with him winning his first singles title. I feel like they purposely kept me away from the building because we would have just showered Wheatley Vodka on that entire arena. I’m so happy for Jey. That dude is the man. You can tell from the post-match interview that he did with Jackie, it was all real. When it’s real, that’s when it’s at its best. We gotta aim for it to be as real as possible. Very happy for Jey and cheers to a long run I hope.

Next year is John Cena’s final year wrestling full-time for the WWE. From a fantasy booking perspective and removing yourself, who would you want to see go against John for his final WrestleMania match?

Such a great question. I think maybe it’s ultimately something that’s up to John. Wrestling John in any capacity — he has a championship, you just don’t see it. The mantle of responsibility, the individual that he was in terms of how he carried himself as the quarterback of WWE, I’m very curious what goes down.

I can’t fantasy book it, because there’s things that make sense and there’s past adversaries he’s had that would be great matches, but the idea of one more WrestleMania with the champ, I hope wrestling fans have strong opinions on it and I hope he has the same, because whoever that is, not just being in that match but what comes after having that match win, lose, or draw, that’s a huge selection to make. That might be the most important decision in WWE.