WWE WrestleMania 40: Cody Rhodes on WWE Title Win & Hoping He Lived Up to Dusty’s Name, Triple H on Nick Khan Being WWE Difference Maker, More News

Cody Rhodes Comments on His Undisputed WWE Universal Title Victory & Hoping He Made His Late Father Proud

WWE held a second WrestleMania 40 post-show press conference following Sunday’s WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Among the speakers was Cody Rhodes. One of the topics discussed included Rhodes’ thoughts about his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship victory and post-match celebration.

“In the moment, I was just so happy to see my friends. You have a lot of friends in wrestling, then they turn on you. Kevin Owens is a huge part of my journey, I wouldn’t have been able to meet the guys I met and do the things that we would do without him. Sami was a huge part of my journey last year with the budding rivalry and him having the opportunity at Elimination Chamber. I didn’t think I would see Randy because he would probably get on his bus and he’s Randy. To have the guy who took me under his wing and I got to watch be a champion, that was amazing. I drove Cena around for almost two years, learned everything I possibly could from him, but didn’t know I was learning because we were having such a good time. There is nobody who carried WWE, until Roman, like John Cena. My family. LA Knight. A lot of victims of the Bloodline. If anything, circling back to what you asked, I think it was just the joy. There is a respect for Roman and Bloodline, no doubt, but nothing is bigger than the company and industry itself. This was a win for the people and me.”

Rhodes also gave his thoughts about what he would say to his father Dusty if he was alive to see his title winning moment.

“If I’m being honest, I think I would want to say to him, ‘I hope I lived up to your name. Thank you for that name.’ Then I would say, ‘Sorry about the tattoo.'”

Rhodes also revealed that following his return backstage, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE President Nick Khan, and WWE Executive Director Bruce Prichard gave him a gift of a special watch. Rhodes stated that this was the same watch that his father Dusty had pawned to help in order to send him to acting school.

During his portion of the press conference, Levesque stated that they had wanted to do something special for Rhodes since him and Prichard were very close to Rhodes’ father. Levesque also stated that it was Khan’s idea to give the watch gift knowing how special it would mean to Rhodes,

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

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Triple H Comments on WWE’s New Era Being Nick Khan’s Era as Well & Him Being Biggest Difference Maker

Sunday’s WrestleMania 40 post-show press conference also featured WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque as one of the speakers as well.

On the topic of WWE constantly referencing their new era as being the “Triple H Era” and “Paul Levesque Era” during both nights of WrestleMania 40, Levesque praised WWE President Nick Khan and stated that this new era is very much his era as well.

“Nick Khan, I can’t even begin to describe the change that he’s made here. If you wanted to boil it all down to a speartip, he should be mentioned in the top of that. It’s his era too. There is nobody right now…it’s such an amazing partnership with a guy that I have so much respect for. It just clicks. He’s the biggest difference-maker that I’ve ever seen. Together, I can promise people, with Lee and Nick at the top of it. There is no ceiling on top of this. We’re going to take it places that it’s never been before.”

Levesque also praised WWE Head of Production Lee Fitting for being a “game changer” for WWE’s production and presentation direction since his hiring by the company.

“[He] is new here, but has been, no pun intended, a game changer. Lee Fitting. From a production standpoint, from what we’re doing, the look, the feel. You see changes happening every week on TV, and there is going to be more of them. You see them and I see people excited by them, just loving the changes that are made. I’m telling you there is so much more to come. We made a conscious decision together, Lee, Nick [Nick Khan], and myself, to slowly roll out those changes over time. There is a lot more coming. When I tell you, Lee Fitting, that I love working with him, he has a passion for this just like we do. Might be new here, but he’s all in. He’s the kind of guy that I want to go to work for. I want to do stuff to make his job easier and I want to collaborate with him and I want to make things better with him. I can’t say enough good stuff about him. A lot of the change that you and a lot of success you see, comes from Lee Fitting.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

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WWE WrestleMania 40 News & Notes

John Cena reflected on Twitter about his surprise appearance at Sunday’s WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event and Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship victory. Cena stated “Grateful to spend time with the #WWE Universe & be a part of #WrestleMania! Congratulations to @CodyRhodes on a history making achievement! And the best part of it all… the @WWE story NEVER ENDS!!!!“

Dustin Rhodes reflected on Twitter about his brother Cody’s Undisputed WWE Universal Championship victory at Sunday’s WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event. Rhodes stated “I love you brother! Now YOUR story begins!! Congrats Champ!!“

Sunday’s WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event featured a Philly Street Fight match between The Final Testament (Karrion Kross & AOP) and Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits. During Final Testament’s entrance, WWE commentator Corey Graves claimed that this was Final Testament’s manager Paul Ellering’s first ever WrestleMania appearance. This was quickly called out to be false on social media after many people pointed out that Ellering made an appearance at WrestleMania 8 in 1992. Ellering and The Legion of Doom made an appearance during that show in an interview segment with Gene Okerlund.

WWE announced that the official attendance for Sunday’s WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event was 72,755 and the official two-night attendance total for this year’s WrestleMania 40 event was 145,298.

During Saturday’s WrestleMania 40 Night 1 post-show press conference, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated that Night 1 broke the all-time live gate record for a single WWE event in WWE history. While no number was given by Levesque, this figure would be higher than the $17.3 million live gate that WrestleMania 32 generated in 2016.

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that his sources stated that the Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins vs. The Rock & Roman Reigns tag team match at Saturday’s WrestleMania 40 Night 1 event went well over its originally planned allocated time. Meltzer reported that WWE officials were aware that everyone in the match was going to do largely do what they wanted and they way they wanted it done once they went out.

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer also reported that WWE was involved in a controversial incident involving their handling of WrestleMania 40 Night 1’s post-show press conference. Meltzer reported that many of the press were not allowed backstage for the press conference including Post Wrestling’s John Pollock and PWInsider’s Mike Johnson. Meltzer reported that WWE officials claimed that the reason was due to them only having a limited space for the press area.