WWE Champion Cody Rhodes reveals how The Rock influenced his iconic neck tattoo

‘The American Nightmare’ faced The Rock in a tag team match at WrestleMania 40

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes recently made an appearance on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast which is hosted by comedians Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer on the YMH Studios YouTube channel.

During his appearance, the American Nightmare discussed a plethora of topics including the art of self-promotion, Netflix’s focus on sports, the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight, Monday Night Raw’s transition to Netflix, and more.

Rhodes also detailed the story behind his iconic and controversial neck tattoo. He shared that after leaving WWE, he focused on creating his own brand and grew frustrated with constantly wearing other people’s logos. He expressed his dislike for walking into stores and seeing The Rock’s logo everywhere.

“The American Nightmare logo I already had, so was never about the art, was never about the look. I went through this phase, I was away from WWE at the time and I was trying to build my own brand and be my own thing. I was tired of wearing other people’s logos. I hated going into Dick’s and Rock’s logo was everywhere. I want to make my own thing. I want to be bold, I’m going all in on my own thing.” Rhodes stated.

The American Nightmare shared that he originally planned to get the tattoo on his chest, but chose to avoid placing it on his neck in order to steer clear of mimicking the tattoo placements of other prominent wrestlers like The Rock’s iconic arm tattoo and UFC Megastar Conor McGregor’s chest piece of the crowned gorilla.

“I had this idea to have it on my chest, then I saw Conor McGregor who is absolutely box office, marquee guy. He has the big lion on his chest, can’t do the chest. Then of course I think about The Rock who is the biggest marquee guy and my current boss. He’s got the Brahma Bull. I can’t do the arm, Goldberg too with the barbed wire. Hmm, I’ll do the neck.”

Rhodes states that he chose his neck because in his opinion the tattoo would be smaller and mostly covered by his shirt collar. He further revealed that upon seeing the final results he was like an unhappy kid on Christmas.

“He showed it to me and it was smaller. I thought that’s perfect. It’ll peek right over the collar, I’m always in suits, that’s perfect. I love this guy, he still helps, he’ll fix it now and then when it needs to be, But I did the dumbest, most alpha-toxic thing ever. I was sitting there in the chair and he kept giving me an out. He goes ‘You wanna take a look?’ He kept giving me an out. No I’m good. I kept gritting my teeth. I don’t know who the f*** I was trying to impress. There’s no one there. My wife’s not there. I’m good.

Then I got up and they are filming this, they’re documenting this whole thing. I got up and I saw it. I didn’t say anything in the moment, but it was like the kid on Christmas [who’s unhappy], it’s not the right Power Ranger basically. I think the first thing I said was thank you. I shook hands and headed for the door, and I had to wrestle the next night. I had a signing that morning where I wrapped it in a scarf because they wanted me to do it fresh right away or take months and let it heal. So I’m at this signing, it’s in a scarf, it’s coming up over the scarf. People clearly know something is up.” Rhodes concluded.

Cody Rhodes will defend the Undisputed crown against Kevin Owens

The American Nightmare is scheduled to defend the Undisputed WWE title against his former friend Kevin Owens in a ladder match at the 2025 Royal Rumble PLE.

The two stars are locked in a fierce feud that began at Bad Blood PLE when Rhodes teamed up with Ownes’ rival Roman Reigns. This led Owens to attack Rhodes after the show in the parking lot. The two stars recently clashed in the main event at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 14.

Rhodes emerged victorious in the main event clash, but Owens attacked him after the match and stole the Winged Eagle title leading to a confrontation on last week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown which led to the Royal Rumble matchup.

This year’s spectacle, aptly dubbed Royal Rumble: Indianapolis, will break tradition by taking place on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at the iconic Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana marking the first time in history the event will happen outside of January.

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