All language subtitles for American Nightmare Becoming Cody Rhodes (2023) 720p

[soft dramatic music]

- WrestleMania 39--

it's the biggest thing anyone
in my family has ever done.

I'm living the first dream
I ever had,

and part of that
is terrifying.

* *

- If your father
came before you

and was a huge star,
like Dusty Rhodes was...

- Get a dream, hold on to it,
and shoot for the sky!

- To fill those shoes

is practically impossible.

* *

- You're already
behind the eight ball

in trying to live up to the
expectations people put on you

just because
of your last name.

- When your dad is on
the sports entertainment

Mount Rushmore,

you have to do
everything in your power

to get their mind off of him

and get everything centered
on you.

* *

- Stardust?

- Don't know
what quite to make of this.

- [laughs maniacally]

- I felt pain for him
through that period.

- Maddening.

[bleep] maddening.

- Frustration
really sets in with Cody

more than anything
I've ever done.

I see how talented he is.

What are they not seeing here?

- I knew I had...

to get out.

- He went off
into the unknown for him.

- This business is all about
betting on yourself.

all: [chanting]
Cody, Cody, Cody!

- Cody went
from being in WWE...

to being the star

of every single
other promotion out there.

- Vince McMahon flew
to his house to get him back.

I don't know how many people
can say they did that.

- From undesirable
to undeniable!

- In wrestling,
things can change...

[snaps fingers]
Like that.

- Cody tore his pec.

Then you have the uncertainty
about coming back.

* *

- He did have
a chip on his shoulder

because he had a lot to prove.

- The American Nightmare
is here!

- Believing in himself--
that's his superpower.

- I have waited my whole life!

I will wait no more!

* *

[soft guitar music]

- I grew up...

God's country--
Marietta, Georgia.

- I remember us
just looking at him,

thinking, "What are we
gonna name him?"

And my husband said,
"Well, what about Cody?"

And Cody was just
a delight as a child.

He was easy.

He was a little shy,
not like his sister,

who never had a shy day
in her life.

- He always wanted
to be like my dad.

You know, if your dad's Batman,
you're not gonna want to be--

you know, work in a bank.

Looked up to him
and wanted to be like him.

[wind whistling softly]

- Life is a journey.

Cody Rhodes is on a quest
to fulfill his destiny.

The origins of this story
are simple.

It's about a son
and his legendary hero...

His father.

- Millions of American people

have that same dream
Dusty Rhodes has built,

that same dream
of being somebody.

- I was a spokesman
for the common man.

Reaching for a dream

and becoming
the American Dream,

that's my mission.

- Who's your favorite wrestler?
- Dusty Rhodes!

- Dusty Rhodes, we're talking
about John Wayne meets Elvis.

- Whoo!

Take it from Dusty Rhodes,
the American Dream.

Make the Mello Yello move.

- Dusty could relate
to the richest man,

and Dusty could relate
to that guy

that was digging ditches
every day.

- I have wined and dined
with kings and queens,

and I've slept in alleys
and dined on pork and beans.

- Look at that strut
from the American Dream!

[cheers and applause]

- My first memory of my dad

is actually
my first memory altogether.

I think people maybe think
it's legend.

It's not.
It's really my first memory.

It was him putting me down
on the mat at WrestleMania.

And I'll never forget
because I got to see

how tall the top rope was.

And the turnbuckle pad

had the gold and blue
letters on it.

I actually initially assumed
he was a movie star.

- You know,
I'm here to show America

that justice does prevail.

You know, I'm just a...
[laughs]

A common man.

- Then as I was able
to learn how to work that VCR

and watch,
even at a young age,

I was so proud
that was my dad.

- For more than two decades,
Dusty Rhodes

won just about every title
in sports entertainment,

except one---

the WWE Championship.

- Superstar Billy Graham,

the reigning Worldwide
Wrestling Entertainment

Heavyweight Champion.

- The year was 1977,

almost a decade
before Cody was even born.

In New York City,

in front of a sold-out crowd
at Madison Square Garden,

Dusty battled
for the WWE Championship.

- The referee's
out there counting.

[bell dinging]

- Dusty Rhodes wins it!

- When I put the belt on
around my waist,

that was huge.

- Threw the belt on
for a second, held it up.

You know, we had
that picture of him

on the mantel
in the master bedroom.

- The winner,
but not the new world champion,

Dusty Rhodes!

- A competitor cannot win
the championship

when their opponent
has been counted

outside the ring
for ten seconds.

In this case,
Dusty won due to a count-out.

- Because it was a count-out,
title doesn't change hands.

And it was the one title
that eluded

the American Dream,
Dusty Rhodes,

throughout his career.

- Dusty would never get
that close to winning

the WWE Championship
ever again.

- First time I heard it,
I was eight years old.

I believe I asked him,

"I didn't know you were champ
like Hulk Hogan,"

which probably upset my dad.

But he didn't get upset
when I asked.

He explained it to me.

The champ can't lose
the title that way.

That was
the big first goal I ever had.

I just want to win
this championship

that he didn't win,

and I can bring it to him.

As time went on,
I thought I can tell him,

you know, "Nobody can take it
away from you now."

That was my whole purpose.

[crowd clamoring]

- 1995--

a young Cody was standing
by his father's side

when he was inducted
into the WCW Hall of Fame,

marking the end
of Dusty's in-ring career.

- I want to thank
my two children,

Teil and Cody, Kristin,

and The Natural Dustin Rhodes

for standing behind me
through all of this.

- Dusty mentioned
all of his kids,

including Cody's
older brother Dustin,

who debuted
as WWE superstar Goldust

later that year.

- There are ten years

separating the two sets
of kids.

And it was a different season
in Dusty's life.

- With Teil Margaret and Cody,
I was determined...

"I'm gonna be there.
I'm not gonna miss a thing."

- Dusty was a great father.

He was just such
a huge personality.

- Ho, ho, ho.

Hey, I'm watching
"A Christmas Story," eh,

right here
with my Santa Claus hat on.

- Cody was really close
with my dad.

You know, they were
little besties.

They did everything together.

- This guy drove me
to school every day,

listening to '90s country.

I mean, this guy put
the decals on our helmets.

He was there for everything.

He was just the perfect dad.

- When he was playing
football,

one of the coaches
for the junior football team

was a coach, wrestling coach.

He said, "You really should
get him into wrestling."

Cody started wrestling.
He was about nine years old.

- There was a lot of times
when I would wrestle

in these tournaments--

a lot of the parents
would kind of spotlight me

and focus on me
because of Dusty.

And that was uncomfortable
for him,

probably far more for me.

I remember I wrestled this kid
from a place called Nicula.

And his dad was screaming,

"Beat Dusty!
Beat Dusty!"

And even at nine, I wanted
to, like, get up off the mat

and be like,
"Hey, my name is not Dusty.

That's Dusty.
I'm a child, sir."

I was initially
terrible at it.

I was missing strength.

And I remember my dad
took some weights.

He built me a whole gym
in my garage.

Next thing you know,

I'm working out
in that gym every day.

I just treated it
like it was a profession.

- In 2001, Cody was a freshman
at Lassiter High School

and was determined
to be a star athlete.

- I was up at 5:00.

I went to school
to run on the track,

participated in the classes
the best I could.

I'd go to practice.

- He worked really hard.

And I remember there was
this huge board in the garage

that had goals on it for him.

- Freshman year,
he was unseeded.

He took on the number-one seed
in the Cobb County tournament

as a freshman.

Cody beat him.

So, right from then on,
everybody knew

he was going to be a factor
in wrestling to come.

He basically had one move
in the whole four years.

That was a double-leg takedown.

Start in the middle,
shoot, and drive the guy

all the way
to the out of bounds,

and then drag
his toes to stay in.

- I'll never forget
the time he said,

"My junior year,
I'm gonna win the States."

I went, "Wow, that's
a bold statement, young man."

- He was like a local
sports celebrity, you know.

They were always coming
to the house

to do, like, an interview.

He was always
in the local newspaper.

- Cody and I
were at rival high schools.

My goal was to wrestle Cody,

beat him in front of Dusty,
and then Dusty would go,

"Oh, man, "I got to train you.

You're gonna be
the best wrestler ever."

Like, that was what--

My teenage brain said
that was my path.

That was how I was gonna
make it to WWE.

- He was really,
really frustrated.

It's one of the reasons
why he always kind of sat up

in the furthest part
of the stands to watch.

He didn't want to be down there

and take away
from what I was doing.

Overall, in junior,
senior year, I was 101-2,

so 101 wins, only 2 losses.

But, also, I think I'd only
been taken down twice.

- State champ
as a junior, senior.

- He was the best.

He was the best.

This is how smart he was,

'cause he knew the business
was going to be his life.

In the final match,
he walks out.

He comes out.
He gave them a sheet of paper.

He wins the state title.

They made this announcement--
"The winner, Cody Rhodes."

- They billed me
as Cody Rhodes

for the first time ever,
not as Cody Runnels.

- And he made them do it.

- Just a time to be
a little eclectic,

to live a little
of your dream.

But, also,
it was unsustainable.

In my last state tournament
after I won,

I specifically remember
taking a bow.

And the bow was,
100%, that's it.

I thought it was
a little nicer

than throwing my shoes away.

But that's what I wanted to do,

was throw my amateur
wrestling shoes away

because I'd given everything--
I'd missed dances.

I'd cut out a huge chunk
of my social life.

I just--
This is what I wanted.

And I knew I'd be moving into
the next juncture of my life.

* *

- I really thought Cody
was gonna go to college.

- As much as my mom
would have loved that,

I didn't want to go,

and I had
no intentions on going.

- He kept saying,

"You know, Mom, college isn't
for everybody."

And I said,
"Well, how do you know?

How do you know?
You hadn't been yet."

- At the time, I thought,
"Well, I can do acting,

"learn the craft, and then plug
myself into pro wrestling

and sports entertainment."

- He had joined
the thespian society

and all of that
in high school.

And I really thought,
"Well, that's it.

That's what he wants to be."

- I had left college
after two years

to pursue a career in acting,

and I think that he thought,
"Well, I'll just go.

I'll just go with Teil."

- 2004--
Cody and his sister Teil

wanted to pursue an acting
career in Hollywood.

But that would be challenging.

Their father, Dusty,

who had made millions
of dollars in his career,

was struggling
to pay the bills.

- The late '70s and '80s
was boom time for me.

Nobody lives this way!

Nobody has crystal glass
in the back seat

of their Chevrolet, Jack!

Overspending,
got behind the IRS--

the thing you hear every day
about athletes.

When it's all there, you think
it's never gonna end.

- We were basically broke.

And you know,
we had a lifestyle

that, you know, my dad
wanted to keep up.

But it was getting brokebroke,

where it's not even about,
you know, having nice things.

It's, can you keep
food on the table?

- You know, one night
the power goes out,

but there's no storm.

And my sister and I both knew
he just hadn't paid the bill.

* *

And we didn't want
to tell him we knew.

And we didn't.
[chuckles]

- Dusty Rhodes is living
on the end of a lightning bolt.

- Living on the edge
of a lightning bolt--

that's what it looks like.

I've seen the glorious side
of what it looks like,

but then there's another side.

It was just--he tried
to shield us from it,

but I know when you're
doing a car commercial

and you're not getting paid,
you're doing the car commercial

so that you can keep
your truck,

I know things aren't great.

- Best of all, there's no
credit check, no hassle.

- When we had made
the decision to go to LA,

that's a big decision,
and he wanted to support it.

He gave both
my sister and I--

we went together--
$10,000 cash each,

just wrapped in a rubber band.

Gave it to us
at the kitchen table.

It felt like the Mafia
or something.

And I would find out later...

that he had sold his--

pawned his Rolex.

And I always thought
I would get that Rolex.

[clicks tongue]

So that was...

He was willing to go
to great lengths

to keep us whole

and to let us live our dreams.

We wanted to go to
the Howard Fine Acting Studio,

which Howard Fine is a name
that carries a lot of weight.

- Cody came to the studio
in 2004.

He started
in the foundation course,

and he worked his way
up to scene study.

He also took a course
called emotional range,

which teaches people

how to use
their own life as source.

He's brave in that way.

He's willing to tap
into some very personal things.

- I loved
the Howard Fine Acting Studio.

It was so cathartic
and therapeutic.

But that's two,
three days a week.

- That year
he spent in California,

he just hadn't seemed himself.

- We didn't have
a lot of money.

You know,
you can't get in anywhere.

He did not love
the West Coast life.

- Being 19 years old
in Hollywood

with no real prospects,

especially when you come off
of having such success

with amateur wrestling
in high school,

definitely was a bit depressed
and dealing with that.

But I'm okay with it 'cause...

'cause without it, I wouldn't
have known what I was missing.

You can't fabricate a dream.

It's not something
that's just in your head.

It's in your heart.

I couldn't fabricate
what I was out there to do.

I knew what
I needed to be doing

was being
around sports entertainment,

pro wrestling.

And I needed
to get back to that.

I'd driven home from LA
in almost 48 hours.

I mean, barely stopped,
just kept going.

I needed to get to my dream.

I needed to get
to what this was all about.

The first person I had to tell
was my dad,

and it couldn't be just
a conversation on the phone.

He needed to know
because I needed his help.

- In early 2006,
Cody returned home to Georgia

to meet with his father
and tell him his dream.

- I got home, and it was
probably the next day.

We went to eat breakfast,

and I told him
that I was serious about it.

He thought about it
for a moment,

and, finally, he just--

he said, "Okay, well,
if you're gonna do it,

you're gonna do it
to be the best."

When you're someone's son
or daughter

and you get into this,
it's like an alumni network.

You have these connections
available to you to get in.

- Dusty came in 2005

to be a part
of the creative team.

And Dusty, you know,
wasn't necessarily a writer,

but Dusty was an idea guy.

- With his father's help,

Cody was put
in a position to succeed.

At 20 years old, he joined
WWE's developmental program--

Ohio Valley Wrestling.

- OVW--
tomorrow's stars today.

WWE developmental system,
no real prior experience.

Although if you ask Miz,

he acts like I trained
for years before I came.

- Cody walks in,
and I'll never forget.

Like, he tells us all that
he's never wrestled before.

And then he gets in the ring
and just spot-on arm drags,

hip tosses, you know,
doing like cartwheels

and frickin', like,
celebrating himself.

And we're all like--all of us,
like, watching the match

looked at each other like,
this guy got us.

- Cody Runnels definitely
has a bright future

in professional wrestling.

- My experience at OVW
was the greatest experience,

was essentially college.

It's the best way to put it.
It was my college.

You do not know
Cody Runnels!

I'm a ghost.

And everything that you try
to take away from me,

I am going to take away
from you.

[crowd cheering]

- Less than one year
into Cody's training,

his father was bestowed
the honor of being inducted

into the WWE Hall of Fame.

- Tonight should be
an incredible moment

when your sons induct you
into the Hall of Fame.

How does that feel?
- Well, it's a--

I'm gonna tell you, man, it's--

I'm trying very hard to keep--

I tear up pretty easy.

When you get old,
you start to--

My wife tells me
I babble about everything.

You know what I mean?
But it's a great honor.

- I remember thinking,

because Dusty was such
a prolific promo master,

I needed to make sure
that his induction

matched that.

- I was really worried
about Cody's speech,

because he was 21.

And that was the first time
that he spoke publicly,

and to speak publicly
for the first time

to such a huge audience...

- I drilled and practiced.

I was pacing in my hotel room.

- Please welcome

Dustin Runnels
and Cody Rhodes.

- I treated his induction
the same way I treat

walking into WrestleMania.

It's got to deliver.

If anything, it's got
to more than deliver.

When he donned polka dots,

he reminded us
something so, so important,

and that is that being common
is absolutely uncommon

because there is strength
in numbers.

- You could tell the amount
of love and respect

that he had for his father.

- He was my seat in school.
He was the food on our table.

He was everywhere.

And if there was
a Hall of Fame for fathers,

you could bet he would be
in that one as well.

[cheers and applause]

- He's just a natural
when it comes to that.

So I was just super proud.

- Our father,
the American Dream,

Dusty Rhodes.

[cheers and applause]

- He was impressive.

It was an amazing night
for him,

so it made it amazing for me.

- Cody's got it.

The poise in which Cody
delivered that speech,

everything about it was real.

- I remember
sitting backstage,

and I was sitting next
to Vince McMahon at the time.

And I said, "Wow."

- What happened after,
I will never forget.

Bruce Prichard grabbed me,
and he said,

"The chairman
wants to speak with you."

So that's Vince.

He was just so impressed
and excited

at how I was able
to talk about my dad.

- I remember Bruce Prichard
coming to me afterwards

and saying,
"Vince just said to me,

'This kid
is going to be huge.'"

- I knew right away,

I'm screwed
because that was good,

and they're looking at it
from the business perspective,

and I'm gonna get called up.

I'm not ready physically.
I'm not ready mentally.

But I know it's gonna happen,
so I better get ready.

And that's exactly
what happened.

Tonight is my first night
on "Monday Night RAW,"

and I plan on making
a good impression.

- If your father
came before you

and was a huge star...

- Let's go, son.
Go.

- To fill those shoes
is practically impossible.

- Cody Rhodes!

- Just three months
after his Hall of Fame speech,

Cody made his debut
on "Monday Night RAW."

- I have John Deere green--

that would be the color
you would describe them as--

trunks on with yellow CR.

I have hand-me-down
yellow boots from my father.

- Cody Rhodes, the young son
of Dusty Rhodes...

- I was less than 50 matches
when I debuted

for the biggest
sports entertainment company

in the world.

[bell dinging]

- He's got to have butterflies
in his stomach

the size of eagles.

- Cody had
a very tough opponent,

former World Heavyweight
Champion Randy Orton.

- [chuckles] He was green
through and through,

but there
was something there, man.

I could tell he had fight.
I could tell he had heart.

He was definitely
his old man's son.

- Oh, the arm throw!

- Randy Orton
beating Cody Rhodes

in Rhodes' first match
on "RAW."

- Even though I said wasn't
ready, which I wasn't,

even though
they pulled me up too soon,

I couldn't have asked
for a better debut

because I was presented
as a rookie.

When you're presented
as a rookie,

you can make mistakes,
and there will be forgiveness.

but also you get to grow up
in front of them.

I have literally grown up
in front of the WWE audience.

- I think when you arrive
on the scene

and you're the son of a legend
or a daughter of a legend,

there is a shitload
of pressure on you, man.

I mean, there is a lot.

- In the beginning,
there was a little bit

of apprehension
for Cody to be a Rhodes,

because immediately
you would make that comparison.

- Well, King, you and I both
watched Dusty Rhodes

wrestle for 30 years.

He's never backed down,

and this kid's never
gonna back down either.

- It's more difficult
when you come in and say,

"Hey, guys, I'm Cody Rhodes."

Okay, well,
what can you do that he did?

Well, I can't necessarily
do what he did,

but I can do what I can do.

And it's a great challenge,
and it's very motivating.

- There's just
so many pressures

that come along with being
a generational talent.

You want to make him proud.

You want to show him
that you can do it,

but then you have so much
to prove once you start.

- People don't forget
how they felt

when they saw a Ric Flair
or a Dusty Rhodes perform.

They don't forget.

So when they see you,
they can't help

but make that connection.

- To sort of create
your own path,

your own career,
your own identity, your own--

all those things
is extremely difficult.

No matter how good you are
or what you do,

you're just Dusty's kid.

Coming in, I thought Cody
did a really good job

of trying to balance all that.

- Around that time,

I didn't want to be
solely identified

as being the son
of Dusty Rhodes.

The joke was,
what do you know about Cody?

That's Dusty Rhodes' son.

Remember, I'm talking to you
about being a little kid

and dad thinking
he's wrestling Dusty.

When you're making
your way in your career,

it's the same thing.

You have to do everything
in your power

to get their mind off of him

and get their attention
and mind and everything

centered on you--
who are you?

- Not that he's
not learned from me

and schooled from me
privately,

but no interference, Dad,

I do this myself
or don't get it done.

I'm not you.
I'm not pretending to be you.

I'm Cody Rhodes.

- Sometimes stepping away
and realizing that you have

to do something different
than the old man did,

that's even harder.

- In 2008, Cody began
teaming with Randy Orton

and Ted DiBiase Jr.

This group would be known
as Legacy.

- Knowing that I was gonna be
a bad guy,

that was very exciting

because everything
was very, very different

from what you would be getting
from a Dusty Rhodes.

When you're this talented...

you don't pay dues.

- I think that was
just what he needed then

to kind of step out
from under his father's shadow.

- Randy will tell you
when he's better than you.

He'll also tell you how
to get as good as he is.

When you're
a second generation

and everyone thinks your dad
taught you everything

and, really, your dad didn't,

you need those people
who help you,

and he helped me immensely.

- After multiple years
learning from him,

Cody had gained confidence,

and WWE executives
took notice.

A new plan
and character emerged.

- Smile, and action.

- My name is
"Dashing" Cody Rhodes,

and I'm here to tell you
how you, too, can be dashing.

When the idea that
"Dashing" Cody Rhodes came up,

I was beyond excited
and thrilled.

And I'm gonna be
this character.

But what is the character?

Snip, snip, snip.

A couple equal clips
on each nail

should do the trick.

Not too short, though.

You don't want
to damage your cuticles.

- I knew if I go in
hard on this,

if I'm all-in with this,
that it can yield results.

- Those vignettes
that he put out there

were second to none.

And you wanted
to punch him in the face.

- Dashing.

- He's the guy
who thinks he's more handsome

than everybody else,
and that makes him a dick.

You know what I mean?

That's pretty easy
to wrap your head around.

- I'm really good-looking, and
you can't hit me in my face,

because you hit me in my face,
this is the bread and butter.

And then once
he got hit in the face...

- The 619...
- Oh!

- Right to the face!

- What happens?

- Oh, God!

There's still people today
that ask me

if my nose really got broke.

When legend becomes fact,
print the legend.

I don't recall
if my nose was broken or not.

* *

In January of 2011,

the "Dashing" Cody Rhodes
character

needed a change.

And Cody had an idea.

* *

- Cody Rhodes
is an emotional mess,

still a tortured man
ever since

his dashing good looks
were ripped away from him.

- Rip Hamilton, he was playing
for the Detroit Pistons

at the time--he wore a mask
to protect his nose.

I contacted the same doctor.

Don't film me.
Stop.

If you've seen
the movie "American Psycho"

and you've seen
how you can go from being

this polished, regimented,
routined individual,

but also being deeply unhinged

and psychologically
willing to go

where others
aren't going to go.

I see what once was...

dashing...

reduced to this!

The best part of it,
I'm gonna have paper bags

which I can hand out
to ugly people in the crowd,

and I can put it
over their heads.

- When he first started
doing that, the audience--

you know,
a couple would put it on.

And then all of a sudden,
the audience

would start bringing
their own paper bags.

And when Cody would come out,

they would put paper bags
over their head.

I mean, did the audience
not realize,

you're being
made fun of right now?

He's telling you that he
doesn't want to see your face

because it's too ugly to see.

He found his groove.

He found, like, something that
he could sink his teeth into.

- Cody's hard work
had paid off.

Just three months later,
he was on the grand stage

of WrestleMania.

- It's a singles match on a
pay-per-view at WrestleMania.

It's also my first singles
match on a pay-per-view.

And not just that--
in my home state, in Georgia.

- Cody got us two passes.

Seeing him come out there,
it was like

I just wanted to go,
"Hey, that was my guy.

"He wouldn't be here--
Well, yeah, he would."

[chuckles]

- We connected right away.

And WrestleMania 27
was a really fun match.

[cheers and applause]

- One, two, three!

[bell dings]

- Actually, one of the
highlights of WrestleMania...

I remember my dad
had a BlackBerry.

And I caught him taking
a picture of me from the side.

[soft music]

And that was...

It felt good because he was...

I'm the biggest fan
of his, right?

But he got to be a fan of mine
just for that moment.

* *

- What I hold in my hand

is the classic Intercontinental
Championship title!

- In 2011, Cody was thriving
as Intercontinental Champion,

proving his value
as a singles star.

[wind whistling softly]

Despite it all,
something was still missing...

until...

he met a girl.

- When you're doing the job
in the industry like we have,

where you're on the road,
the people you ride with--

they become your family.

They become your friends.

You're always told
you don't want to really mix

that personal and professional,

but when you are together
so often,

that is almost unavoidable.

And my dad had mentioned

he was working on something
at FCW.

He mentioned this girl
he'd met,

who had just
these beautiful eyes.

- These chicks
will learn to love me.

Oh, yeah, they will love me.

- His dad, Dusty,

was one of the coaches there.

And one day he came
and was just kind of watching

at one of the shows.

Next interaction I had
with him was at a show.

I was about to go out
to start ring announcing.

- The hair and makeup
department had given her

a real, like, Texas white
housewife-style hairdo,

where it was giant,
legit giant.

- I was getting ready
to walk out,

and Cody says, "Are you
about to go out there?"

And I said, "Yeah."

And he said, "You might want
to take a look at your hair."

Beth Phoenix was
in the locker room,

and she said,
"What are you doing?

Don't you
have to be out there?"

I said, "Yeah," but I said,
"My hair's messed up."

And she said, "Who said
your hair was messed up?"

And I said, "Cody."

And she said, "Nothing's
wrong with your hair.

You're fine."

That's just his way
of flirting with you.

And I was like, "Really?"

- I think she's got
a whole spin on it now.

I was being dead honest.

- And we started dating
pretty much immediately.

[cheers and applause]

In the earlier stages
of our dating,

Cody sat me down.

He showed me a picture
of his dad holding the title.

And it looks in the picture
as if his dad won the title.

Cody just thought like,
"How unfair.

"He won, but he didn't win.

"Well, I can fix that
because I'm going to winwin.

And then it's a win for us."

And that's
the sweetest story to hear,

especially when you're,
you know, dating somebody.

It's, "Aw, you know,
he really loves his dad.

This is really, really sweet."

- After two years of dating,
in September of 2013,

Cody and Brandi tied the knot.

- I am incredibly lucky
to have ever had

a hair and makeup person
screw her hair up that bad

that I needed to tell her.

- A month later,
the Rhodes family

would be together again...

this time in the ring.

Cody, his brother,
known in WWE as Goldust,

and his father,
Dusty, joined forces.

- Battleground, the whole day
was really a gift...

my brother and I being
a tag team.

Looking at it,
too, we're all young.

Seth's young.
Roman's young.

I'm young.
We're developing.

It almost feels like it
was part of the story

that I never even knew.

- Cross Rhodes!

all: One, two, three!
[bell dings]

- The Rhodes have done it!

[cheers and applause]

- It was just a real moment

where we got to be a family.

- Get your dictionary out and
look up "feel-good moment,"

and this is what
you'll see right here.

- Our business
is entertainment,

but there's moments
that are real.

Being around my son
and being able to do

a pay-per-view with them,
my God, it was just amazing.

[cheers and applause]

- After four years
as a singles star,

Cody's momentum had stalled.

- That was a point
in Cody's career

where he had sort of plateaued.

He hit this roadblock.

He just was not,
at that time in his career,

going to live up
to the potential

of "The American Dream"
Dusty Rhodes.

It wasn't gonna happen.

- WWE wanted to create

a new, over-the-top character
for him.

- Creative Services came up
with some really cool designs.

At one point, I looked
like Marvel's Quicksilver.

Originally, there was a mask.

It looked like a condom
blown up on my head.

We went through
all these revisions

on what Stardust could be.

And then Stardust ended up
being just a mini Goldust.

[shimmering music]

- Stardust.

I don't know
what quite to make of this.

- Goldust.

Stardust.

- It was all character,
you know,

face paint,
body suit, mannerisms.

- [hisses]

- He sunk his teeth
into that character.

And I think
he did make it work.

He took it so seriously.

I think I even went
to a Six Flags with Cody,

and he's dressed up
as Stardust.

You know,
so that's how serious

he took this character.

- Every single house show,
every TV we had,

he would be
completely committed to it.

He never phoned it in.

- Cody Rhodes is now dead.
It's now all about Stardust.

- I never have seen
someone in my life

that took a character
like that

as seriously as Cody did
and worked on that craft.

* *

- The Stardust character
caught the eye of yours truly.

- Stephen Amell,
look, the Arrow.

- In the spring of 2015,

I was playing
a comic book hero

on the television show
"Arrow."

It was a natural fit
to connect us in WWE.

- Stephen Amell
takes interest in me.

We're able to do this crossover

and do some stuff
with Hollywood with "Arrow."

- Let's do this.

- A lot came from Stardust,
really a lot.

- But playing
the Stardust character

was challenging for Cody.

And after a year,

he began vocalizing
his frustrations.

- Stardust's level
was beneath me.

[party horn tooting]

One more time, sorry.

- I hated Stardust.

Yes, he was entertaining.
Yes, he owned it.

He killed it as that character,
as that Stardust character,

but you just never saw him
as a credible World Champion.

- Stardust was locking me
out of the top of the card.

- Stardust is that mid-card.
He's fun. He's entertaining.

But he's never gonna be in
the Main Event of WrestleMania.

And that's where
we all want to be.

- What I did as Cody Rhodes,

particularly
as Intercontinental Champion,

those brass rings
I was really close to getting,

I think the taste
of being so near it

is what made Stardust
so bitter...

dead inside,
painting my face,

mortified
to be that character.

You know, I had pity on Brandi

for living with me
throughout that period.

[laughs maniacally]

- I felt pain for him
through that period

because I knew
how hard he was trying.

- Pick a card, any card.

Sometimes you've got to hit
a rock bottom.

That was rock bottom.

- You can start to do
something here creatively

and wind up down a road
that you think like,

"Man, how did I end up here?
This isn't what I want to do."

You have a vision in your head
of what you can be,

of what you can accomplish.

That's a tough blend

because it's got to work
for everybody in the company.

It's got to work
for the overall storytelling.

It's got to work
for the overall brand.

It's not just
about the individual.

That's just the business.

- My dad called me,
and he was upset.

He said he'll never be
World Champ in this.

- Frustration really sets in
with Cody

more than anything
I've ever done.

I see how talented he is.

What are they not seeing here?

To where you just want
to go off--"Are you blind?"

But they--Oh, Dad's talking.

His dad wants him to be on top.

- I remember him calling
his dad on the phone

almost every day,

and all they ever talked about
was the business.

- The conversations
when I was doing Stardust

became so negative
and downtrodden

that that was one
of the first times

he just hit me with the basic,
"well, you should quit."

[tense music]

* *

- After nearly a year
as the Stardust character,

Cody was questioning
his future.

* *

- I didn't quit because that's
now how I had been raised.

I didn't quit when I was
a sophomore in high school

and had to wrestle
seven matches in a single day

just to get on the podium
at sixth place.

Had I quit at anything,
my mom would've disowned me.

But it seemed like there was
no way to get out of it.

I used to say,
"I'm way smarter than this."

That's what
I would tell myself--

"I'm way smarter than this,"

meaning, why can't
I find the cheese?

Why can't I get out of this?

And, ultimately,
I did hang on.

- Meanwhile,
his father, Dusty,

had been molding
a new class

of superstars
at the WWE Performance Center

under the NXT banner.

- When you talk about promo
or promo and communication

and the audience...

I love teaching.

That's why
I'm still doing this.

I love teaching young kids
and seeing them move up.

- It was the hot thing
at the time.

So it was like, these NXT kids
and Dusty's kids.

Meanwhile, he's
spinning his wheels.

- I used to tell Brandi
on NXT nights,

I'd always say,
"It's gonna be a bad night."

I'm not part
of this resurgence,

these indie stars
coming in and being polished,

all under the umbrella
of Dusty Rhodes.

- I was Dusty's kid.

Huge influence
on all the students.

- Dusty had time
for everybody,

and he truly did treat us
like his kids.

- It did strike more
of a nerve with him, I know,

than I would have assumed,

because I was like, "You know,
it's just an expression.

"We're not his kids.
Like, we just like the guy,

And he's so nice to us,"
you know?

- I worked closely
with Dusty for a few years

down in Florida.

He was a big supporter
of mine.

I mean, Dusty's responsible
for almost everybody

that came
through Developmental

over the course
of five, six, seven years.

- He's telling me
I should quit.

Meanwhile, he's grooming
a Seth Rollins.

He's grooming a Roman Reigns.
He's grooming a Sami Zayn.

He's grooming a Kevin Owens.

Maddening, [bleep] maddening.

Really just...

It's like he's got his own
Little League team, right?

And they're just hitting
home runs, and I can't play.

The worst.

And it made me really resent
all of the Dusty's Kids.

Made me resent them.

Made me resent the idea

that he would be a mascot
for the Developmental.

It was tough.

- Cody's frustration
was reaching a breaking point,

but Dusty's support
for his son never wavered.

- I was very close to his dad.

We sort of
started NXT together.

To know how he felt
about Cody,

to see how he felt
about Cody's career

and what Cody
could accomplish...

- He did speak
very highly of Cody.

He used to refer to him
as The Prince.

- Loved him,
thought he was the best.

The company wasn't doing enough
with him.

He's a great promo.
He's great in the ring.

- Should have been still

Intercontinental Champion
or World Champion.

Cody is so passionate.

He's one that doesn't like
the status quo.

- He knew I was somewhere
where maybe

I couldn't be retrieved,
that I had to be the one.

I had to be the one
to make whatever decision

would come next, and it sucks.

And it's such a shame
that he doesn't

and didn't get to see the
decision that was made next.

- As Cody struggled
with his life on-screen,

his personal life took
a sharp turn

on June 10, 2015.

- My father had been sick.

He had terrible, like, trouble
in his stomach.

It's just tearing him up,

and they thought
perhaps an infection.

- Early, very early
in the morning,

he got up, and he told me,
"I'm really sick.

Something is wrong."

And he collapsed,
and I called the ambulance.

[siren whooping]

The doctor came in the room,
and he said,

"You've got an infection."

He said, "We're gonna have to
keep you here for the weekend,

and we're going to put you
on IV antibiotics."

- I remember every coat
of paint on the wall,

every scratch on the floor.

I remember the hallway
I took to get coffee.

I remember going by the piano
in the chapel.

Every piece of it
is burned into my brain.

It's the last memories
I have of him.

I found out about septicemia
and septic shock.

And I found out
the return rate--

once your body
goes into shock like that,

the organs start to fail.

It's not a good return rate.

And...

I went from praying
he would live

to praying he would pass...

because, you know,
once the nurse tells you

he has no quality of life,

if you can't live,
you can't live.

[monitor beeping]

* *

It's not like movies or TV,
where the thing goes flat.

It takes longer.

A doctor has to come in

and literally
put his ear to the chest.

The doctor tells you,
"No, he's still alive."

[sighs]
It's just a...

I wouldn't wish it
on my worst enemy.

It was just two days
of sitting there

and watching your hero...

watching your favorite person
just die.

[soft music]

- On June 11, 2015,

Dusty Rhodes passed on.

He was 69.

- You know, it's your hero,
and he's--

Anybody who loses a parent,
there's no good time for it,

but the shock of it
for us as a family

was just hard to sort through.

- People say, "Oh, he's there.
He's with you."

No, he's not.

I understand what you mean,
but he's physically not.

But he was there
in so many ways.

I describe him
as a perfect father.

* *

It's almost selfish to want
him any longer than I had him.

[voice breaking]
And I had them for--

I had him for what I had him.

[somber music]

- Dusty's passing wasn't
just felt by his family

but by the entire
wrestling industry.

His memorial service
was a glowing tribute

to both the legend
and the father he was.

- It's an honor...

it's a privilege
to tell you who Dusty was

and who he was in his heart.

- That's a tough thing--
to be able

to deliver your dad's eulogy
in front of all your peers,

and you're having to deal
with your own emotions.

- There was a period of time
in my mid-teens

when we lost our fortune
and we went broke.

And you'd never know.

We ate like kings.
We danced like stars.

We partied like the monarchy.

We pretend to be
because my dad refuted

the idea that his children
would go without.

- I swear to God,
every father in the world

would love to have someone
speak about him

the way he spoke about Dusty.

- Today I consider myself
the luckiest man

on the face of this Earth

for having stood in the company
of Dusty Rhodes.

* *

Tonight when we lay down,
when we fall asleep,

when we put our heads
against the pillow,

I ask you,
don't just have a dream...

[sighs]
Have an American Dream.

* *

When my father passed away,
I think a lot of people assumed

I would just come back
as Cody Rhodes.

And it's actually the one time
I wanted to make it clear,

no, I wasn't ready
to be Cody Rhodes.

I wasn't even close to ready
to being Cody Rhodes.

So now I had a mask already

that I could dive
right back into.

I had a suit that could
become armor

while I grieved
and while I processed

and while I figured out,

how do I move
the family forward now?

- Two months later,
Cody and I were slated

to have a match at SummerSlam.

It had been ten weeks
since Dusty's passing.

* *

- I put a blog out.

My wife has a blog.

I put it out to kind of,
like, cool the fires

as far as...

coming back as Stardust.

It would've been real easy
to come back as Cody Rhodes.

It would've been real easy.

It also would have been
really tacky.

Many years ago,
there was a death

in the sports
entertainment industry,

and my dad even said--

he said, people were saying,
"Oh, such-and-such

"would've loved that.

They would love
being mentioned on TV."

And my dad said to me,

"I won't want to be mentioned
on TV.

What I did is what I did."

And the last thing--

you know, barring some stuff
with Goldust and myself--

the last thing he did
was Battleground, really.

He was...

much more sick than I realized.

I can't believe we're here,

and I can't believe
he is not here.

But I hope...

I really hope...

because I have had
his voice in my head

and not in a forced way,

like, oh, I need to hear him,
you know?

Because I'm very skeptical
about what happens

after one dies,
but I can hear him.

And he always would say--
It was a promo of his.

And I can't even find
the promo.

He'd say,
"This is the Super Bowl.

It's Broadway."

He's talking about a big match.

I can hear him--
how he talked, how he sounded.

And I hope...

when I tag in tonight,
I can hear him.

It would mean a lot to me.

And it would mean a lot
to his family,

'cause you can do
a tag tournament for him,

and that's great,

and his NXT kids
can be his kids,

but I'm one of his actual kids.

* *

The idea that we had
this crossover element--

we've got Stephen Amell,

who's on top of the world
at the time with "Arrow."

I felt like taking a bow
essentially.

This is it.

The character was tapped out.

I can call myself Stardust.

You can debate all day,

but there's still
a Rhodes wrestling,

and it felt good for there
to be a Rhodes wrestling

in a premier spot.

I didn't think
I wanted to even see a ring

if my dad wasn't in it.

And that...

that tonight
ramped me right back up to,

I feel like
one of the boys again.

I was at the point now where
my heart was ready for it.

I was ready to tell the story
of becoming Cody Rhodes again.

And that wasn't even
on their radar.

I'm thinking,
"Well, this is the end

of the Stardust chapter."

I'm thinking,
"There'll be another thing.

"This is the same company
that has raised me.

"They're absolutely
gonna have something new

"for me to dive into.

Now what?"

And "now what?"
was a whole lot of nothing.

I remember writing
so many different emails--

like, reset me.

At one point, when I went
to talk to one of the writers,

they ignored me.

They actually
did the hand shun.

And they were typing
on their laptop.

And I leaned in and looked,
and the laptop was powered off.

So that was the moment
where I headed up to Gorilla

and told Triple H,

"I want to punch that writer
in the face."

And then as I was leaving,
he said,

"Hey, if you really want
to make some noise,

"you got to rattle the cages.

Got to rattle the cages."

And I just nodded at him
and walked on through.

- When you're younger

and you're in the business
and you're working hard

and you're doing
all those things,

everything is very personal,

and it's emotional,
and you can be blinded by that.

You're always in a rush to get
to where you want to be.

You want it
to be a different way.

You know, you're having
to talk him off the ledge

almost every week.

- No matter what chicken salad

he made out of the chicken shit
that was Stardust,

he couldn't get out of it.

[dramatic music]

- Over the next eight months,

Cody would continue to portray
the Stardust character.

During this time,
his resentment only grew.

- They wouldn't let him call
himself Rhodes and all that.

I mean, does that make sense?

* *

- He was burned out of trying
to convince people

that he should be Cody.

I mean, he's a [bleep] Rhodes.
He should be Cody Rhodes.

- It's kind of
like being told,

"We don't really think
who you are

"is interesting enough
to be on our show,

so we need you to play
this crazy character."

- I would wrestle in
the live events as Stardust,

and I had a steel tumbler
that traveled with me

for coffee and stuff.

So, once I was done
with my match,

I would fill it with whiskey
and pour Gatorade on top of it

so nobody knew
what was going on,

and I was drinking
at the monitor,

watching the rest
of the live event.

That's how checked out I was.

I wasn't trying to get drunk.

I feel like I was almost trying
to get fired

just because I couldn't bring
myself to quit,

even though I needed
to bring myself to quit.

* *

And the next steps I took
were the steps of,

let Triple H know,
let Vince know

I'm not putting
the suit back on

unless I'm telling the story
of getting out of it.

And that was met
very much poorly.

And that was where
I knew I had to get out.

* *

- I was a legacy individual
in WWE,

and I was a hard worker.

I wasn't gonna be fired

no matter
how many budget cuts there were

or anything like that.

I told WWE, good luck
in your future endeavors.

I fired WWE.

- In May of 2016,

after a decade with WWE,

Cody was granted his release.

- You could've collected

a six-figure check
for the rest of your life.

You just bought a house,
at the time, in Denton, Texas.

I'm married.
We want to have a family.

Every bit of security
and every guarantee you have

you just threw out,
and now you can't get

those securities or those
guarantees back--you can't.

- He walked away
from a lot of money,

but he knew he was never gonna
get the opportunity...

if he didn't leave.

- I was terrified.

I just was not
on board with that.

- Her exact reaction was
that I was gonna end up,

and I quote, "dead or in jail."

- I said, "Thank God.
Let's go."

[chuckles]
Like, no one's happy.

Leave this in a place of love.
Leave this as a good memory.

Let's not leave this
as purgatory, you know?

Move on.

And so we moved on together.
[chuckles]

- A bold, brave,

incredibly difficult step
to make, but he did it.

He went off sort of
into the unknown for him.

All he'd ever known was WWE.

- The next step has to matter
more than anything you do.

That very first move
has to matter, has to mobilize,

which in my case
was putting the list out.

- He created a list
which he publicized,

a checklist of all the things
he wanted to do,

guys he specifically wanted
to wrestle.

No one had ever really done
anything like that actually.

It was a very clever way
to take these fans

and get them along
with you on a journey,

which is actually
kind of ingenious,

when you think about it.

- Cody Rhodes!
[cheers and applause]

- A rather warm welcome
for Cody Rhodes...

first wrestling match

since leaving
World Wrestling Entertainment.

- Cody went
from wrestling in WWE

to smaller, independent
promotions around the world.

- The famous list
that Cody put out--

the word of mouth,
and everybody was excited

to see Cody.
and what would he do

on his own
and on his own terms?

- I wrestled Cody Rhodes
a couple of times

during that year, and we had
some incredible matches.

- He's got him.

- He did have
a chip on his shoulder

because he had a lot to prove.

- I wanted to prove
that the person I was

in 2011, '12--

I was
Intercontinental Champion.

I wanted to prove that that

was just scratching
the surface,

that that guy was actually
supposed to keep going

up the damn ladder,

that that guy could make it
to the Main Event spot.

That's what I wanted to prove--

that I could be
in the Main Event.

- He went everywhere.

He worked three, four times
a week.

He wasn't just doing
the big weekend shows.

He was doing the shitty ones
in front of 10, 15 people.

He did everything
to get noticed.

- This business is all about
betting on yourself,

and he made some really good
choices to get re-established

and to make
his net worth skyrocket.

- That ability
to gamble on yourself

and say,
"I can do more than this,

let me step away"--
my hat's off to him for,

because not a lot of people
could have done it.

all: [chanting]
Cody, Cody, Cody!

- I think fans saw in Cody

what they wanted
to see in themselves.

Decided to bet on himself.

It was more worth it to Cody
to follow his own heart

than it was
to accept a paycheck

and be at the top place
and not be the top person.

- You looked at him,
and you could see

he looked at himself
as a Main Eventer.

- Going on last, really
the thing that they remember

and the thing
that they stay for.

- Holy!

Rhodes put it all on the line!

all: [chanting]
Thank you, Cody!

[stomping and clapping]

Thank you, Cody!
[stomping and clapping]

- A ton of other stuff
came up.

A whole cathartic
and beautiful experience

of connecting with people.

For ten years,

I have beamed
across some of your TV sets.

I've grown up in front of you.

I was in a very large shadow,

but it wasn't a big deal
because I loved that shadow.

- When Dusty passed,
it became challenging

because he wanted to honor
his father

while still trying to be
his own man, which is tough.

- What happens on the morning
when you wake up

and there is
no shadow anymore?

What do you do?

Kick, punch, fight, scratch,

and tell every son of a bitch
who said you couldn't do it

that you can do it!

[cheers and applause]

- He lost his father,
and it motivated him

to be better, to do better.

- I didn't deal
with Dusty's death well,

and I was faced with it.

all: [chanting]
Dusty, Dusty, Dusty!

- Tons of people in line,
you know, telling me

their specific stories,
showing me their picture,

and that was where
I was able to deal with it.

I was at a show
in Dallas on Thursday,

and a fan brought me
a pair of boots,

and they said,
"These are your dad's."

And I thought,
"These couldn't be my dad's."

And I look at them,
and I go, "Oh, these are his.

"I can tell.

I can tell by the way
the toe is taped."

As I meet fans
and meet people who knew him,

I'm blown away.

When you're in it
and you're feeling it

and you encounter people
who have those moments,

it was something
that they needed

and, unbeknownst to them,
I needed.

[light music]

- For several months,
Cody went on a journey

of self-discovery
outside the WWE bubble.

[tense music]

But it was across the globe
where he discovered something

that would change him
forever...

a new identity.

- Going over
to New Japan Pro-Wrestling,

New Japan had footage
of the American Dream.

Said, "Yeah,
we want you to come in

as the American Nightmare."

- 40,000 fans here
at the Tokyo Dome

have their eyes
on the American Nightmare.

- That first Tokyo Dome show,
that's where I really decided,

I know what
the American Nightmare is.

A little bit
of "Dashing" Cody Rhodes,

a little bit of Stardust.

Here's every experience
I've ever had in my life.

Had you given me
that name five years before,

it wouldn't have worked.

I needed every piece
of what I had done,

all my equity, everything.

- I call you the traveling man,

because you're
in Ring of Honor.

You're in New Japan.

- And you mentioned
the word "freedom."

He carved his own path.

He opened up
that forbidden door.

[cheers and applause]

- You know,
before it became a fun term,

the Forbidden Door,

what it meant was
you would be locked out

of going specific places.

Okay, if you sign with Impact,
you're locked in there.

If you sign
with Ring of Honor,

you're locked in there.

I was in a position
where I was very wanted,

that I was able to leverage
that interest in me,

because the catch was,
you can get this for sure.

The American Nightmare,

the whole deal--
you can have it,

but they're gonna have it, too.

- Cody Rhodes
bringing his own brand

to worldwide recognition.

- Cody Rhodes!
[speaking native language]

- Nobody created a bigger buzz
on the independent scene

than Cody Rhodes.

- Cody went from being in WWE

to being the star

of every single
other promotion out there,

and you couldn't deny it.

- Just showing up everywhere,

getting people talking
about Cody Rhodes.

- The ability to stay relevant

over a long period of time
in our industry,

especially without
the mainstream exposure

that WWE offers,
that is a difficult task.

- What up, Code?
- Hey, bud, how you doing?

How you feeling?

- He's in over here.

Oh, wait, and he's in
with these guys.

Oh, interesting.

How does that
all come together?

- While he was
the hottest thing

going on the independents,
it wasn't enough.

all: [chanting]
Cody, Cody, Cody, Cody!

- Of course, the hair--

finally going
through the transition.

When I first started
in the industry,

I was told to do everything
the opposite of your father

because you don't want
to remind them of him

with every outing.

This was the safest time
to remind them of him.

And I was able
to change my hair color

because I had earned it.

It's like I finally
have the right

to rely a little bit on him.

- Cody's success coincided
with a groundswell of fandom

on the independent-wrestling
scene.

The rise in popularity

had Cody's creative wheels
spinning.

- It was clear we could run
a bigger show.

And when I say we, I mean
me, Matt, and Nick Jackson.

Now's the time.

Matt, Nick, myself, we are
self-financing an event--

All In.

The goal is 10,000 people.

- They got together
and said, "You know what?

"If we take
the best of the best

"from the independent world
and put together one night,

one special event,
what would happen?"

- My sister Teil is the one

who came up
with the name All In.

That was truly the message
of what we were doing.

We were going all-in.
We were self-financing,

and all our, you know,
cards, chips,

everything was on the table.

- At the time,
it was unfathomable to think

10,000 people
would be in a building

for an independent show.

- Well, first off,
who's gonna call?

Hi, I'd like to run
a show in your building.

Yep, that's how it works.

Can we get a billboard?
How do we get a billboard?

My favorite part that I don't
often share with people

was scaling for tickets.

This section's gonna cost
this much.

This section's gonna cost
that much.

We put the prices fair.

We wanted you to be there.

Tickets went on sale
two minutes ago,

and the website
is already experiencing

very heavy traffic.

- 49 minutes...

- well, it sold out
in 30 minutes.

- It was the peak
of my career,

to see how excited people were.

- I'm so proud
of the three of you.

- Thank you, man.
- Oh, thanks, Stephen.

- I really, really mean that.
You did it, and I cannot wait.

- That first All In show--
he was having so much fun.

- Justin in the ring
is going to say,

"Ladies and gentlemen,
please rise."

- I mean, I could sit back
and just watch,

like, him saying,

"Now, hey, the most important
thing is have fun."

He said it to everybody.

- Everybody looked
at Cody as,

well, he's a WWE guy.

He's a WWE lifer.

And then he's the one
that was able to fill

an arena
full of wrestling fans

outside of the WWE.

- On September 1, 2018,
over 11,000 fans

descended on Chicago
for All In.

- Buzz was already
going around

that this
was something special.

And that's when you got to see

the business side of Cody.

- I couldn't even have thought
of this as a kid--

how stupid fun it would be.

I have a plaque that's on
the side of the arena still.

I hope
they never tear it down.

- It's the perfect mix of
timing and talent and fandom,

all crescendoing
all at the same time

to show people,

if you build it,
they will come.

- We all didn't know
how big

or how incredible that show
was gonna turn out

to lead into something
even bigger.

- Following that success,
Cody led a team

that created
a new wrestling promotion.

- We're about to sign contracts
with All Elite Wrestling.

- On January 1, 2019,

All Elite Wrestling,
also known as AEW, was born.

- Bang.
- Congratulations.

- Congratulations.
- Yeah.

- Awesome.

- If the network
at 11:00 night

asked us to be on
a flight at 5:00 a.m. to LA,

Cody and I were on the flight.

We're behind the scenes.
We're in front of the camera.

If we've got to make a cake,
we're going to do it.

Like, we're just really
blood, sweat, and tears,

all-in on this.

- Executive vice president
of All Elite Wrestling,

Cody Rhodes.

Good to see you, sir.
- Oh, thanks for having me.

What an exciting time to be
a wrestler and a wrestling fan.

- This is a guy
that was just struggling,

and now here he is.

He's a top guy
for a different company

that he helped
put together, so...

that's pretty impressive.

- For over three years,
Cody elevated the competition

in sports entertainment.

He also became a father
to a girl named Liberty.

- You don't become a man
until you have a daughter.

At least in my case,
that's what's happened.

First and foremost,
I am there to support

and provide the world for her.

- All you want to do
is provide for that child.

The most important thing
becomes that little person.

- Wrestling is filled
with politics.

And when she was born,
it just became about,

I can just do this
transparently.

Hey, guys, I'm the best
wrestler in the world.

I hope you know that,

and I'm going to try and go
out there and show you that,

because I have
to report back now.

I have to report back
to this little kid

who doesn't have any clue
what...

[voice breaking]
Like, I'm going through

and doesn't ever need to know.

But I thought I had
a tough task in front of me

with wrestling
and following Dusty Rhodes' act

as a wrestler.

Following his act
as a father...

I hope I'm even close.

- By January of 2022,
rumors began to surface

that Cody's status
in AEW was uncertain.

- When I first started hearing,

all right, he's working
without a contract,

I honestly just
didn't believe it.

- You know, people
were asking online,

is Cody's contract up?

Yeah, it is. It was.

* *

That's all stuff
that is public information

that's being shared.

So, if the contracts

are not being renewed
on time...

we're rocking foundation.

It's just odd to me to play
with that kind of fire

in an industry
that's competitive.

I mean, you can attract people
who don't know that,

and things can happen.

- There were rumblings about
Cody's contract being up.

And reached out through
some mutual friends

and just asked
if that was true

and, if it was true,
for Cody to give me a call.

And Cody called me
within, like, five minutes.

And I believe Vince and I were
on a plane

the very next day
to meet with Cody

in person in Atlanta, Georgia.

- In early 2022,

the chairman of WWE,
Vince McMahon,

went to Atlanta, Georgia,
to meet with Cody.

- I looked at it as closure.

That's true honesty.

I thought I'd be able
to apologize for how I exited

but also stand before them

as someone who went out
and rattled those cages

and did some different things

and be able to have
that moment with them,

and it be closure.

That's not at all
what I got out of it.

- It wasn't so much
a business meeting.

It was,

but it was a meeting of,
what have you been doing?

What do you want to do?

What we think we could do
as well together.

- This wasn't changing.

To quote Vince, and it's one
of my favorite things

I have ever heard,

"We're not gonna change it.
It's not broke.

That's what we're buying."

- Vince McMahon flew
to his house to get him back.

I don't know.

I don't know how many people
can say they did that.

- We left there without
any doubt in anyone's mind

that Cody was coming home.

- Huge news...

Cody Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes

now done
with All Elite Wrestling.

- This is my one request
in this entire documentary.

This one answer I don't want
edited in any capacity.

Don't even edit this part.

I can't tell you
why I left AEW.

I can't, and I won't,

but I'll tell you
the reasons that were said

that didn't actually matter.

I didn't leave AEW
because of money,

and I didn't leave AEW
because of other talents.

I left AEW
because of a personal issue.

That's it.

But the byproduct
of leaving AEW

is the opportunity...

to go for the biggest dream
I ever had

and the first dream
that I had in my life.

- To then take that gamble
again and say,

this is not
what I wanted to be.

I didn't grow up dreaming
of being the champion

or the face
of a secondary promotion.

I wanted to be
the WWE Champion.

[soft dramatic music]

* *

- They say
when one door closes,

another opens.

Cody was about
to show the whole world

that the so-called
forbidden door...

swings both ways.

- WrestleMania that year--

we got to the point
where everything for Seth

that we had planned
had kind of fallen through.

And then all of a sudden,

you get this huge superstar
from outside of WWE,

who is now entering.

And it was the perfect storm
to bring them together.

- It wasn't finalized

until, like, two weeks
before WrestleMania.

- Seth Rollins
is as good as it gets,

and I'm going to be the one
making his WrestleMania,

one of Dusty's kids?

- Thank you, sir.
- You're welcome, kid.

- Absolutely.
Hell, yes.

* *

- The element
of surprise to me

is the greatest tool

that we have
as storytellers sometimes.

If the audience
is expecting a surprise

and you give them something
that satisfies their hunger...

Bingo, man.
That's perfect.

- We'd heard rumblings,

but all day backstage,
I'm asking questions.

As the announcer,

I would have liked to have
had some facts lined up,

but instead I was flying blind.

- I knew he was coming back.

He just wouldn't admit it
until that day

when I finally texted him,
"Where are you?"

He's like, "I'm on this bus."

- I'll never forget...

this was the last place
I was in for a Mania,

and I didn't think I would
get another opportunity

to go down this path.

So I can't take it for granted.

- For me, the anxiety
in everything was,

I know my husband.

The people who are
the closest to him

he needs in moments like that.

He needed me, his mom,

and his sister.

And the only one
that made it was me,

and I've got
a nine-month-old baby on a bus

that I'm trying
to keep together

for the biggest moment
of his career thus far.

[cell phone chimes]

- Hey.
- Hey.

- Up close and personal.

I miss you.
- I miss you, too.

I wish I could be
in two places at once.

Unfortunately,
I couldn't be there

'cause it was
my granddaughter's wedding day,

but we had a watch party.

- It was a rural location.

You know, we're in a field.

I've got, like, barely
any connection.

[cheers and applause]

- You are looking live at
AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas!

Welcome to WrestleMania!

[indistinct chatter]

- Yep.
- Oh, here you go.

- I didn't have an idea
how they would respond to me.

Some people had indicated,
maybe they won't know you.

Then I thought,
"Well, maybe they'll boo you.

"You were the alternative.

You were on the other side."

- I remember Cody saying,

"If they turn on me,
get out of Gorilla."

- So just don't step off
right away.

Wait for it to stop.

- Stadium shows
are interesting

because the center
of the ring's like the eye

of the storm.

* *

It's almost like a calm, right?
It's peace.

* *

- Who's it gonna be?

- Wrestling
has more than one...

royal family.
[cheers and applause]

[Downstait's "Kingdom"
playing]

* *

- * Adrenaline in my soul *

* Every thought... *

- This is surreal!

I have got chills!

[fireworks booming]

- * The crowd is here,
about to blow *

- Boom!

- * Waitin' for me
to start the show *

- I was just so glad

that he got
such a warm reception.

You know, it was a homecoming,
but it was also--

It just felt that magic again.

- Here's the executive
from the alternative company,

and he's here, and he's back.

- Here's a man who had such
a shadow cast above him.

Here's a guy
who took a big chance

leaving the only home he knew,
betting on himself,

and becoming a bigger star
because of it,

and then returning home

almost like
the conquering hero.

- The prodigal son
has returned!

- I'm just sitting there
just watching the screen,

just, like, heart racing.

- From undesirable
to undeniable!

Let's see what Cody brought
to the table tonight.

Beautiful arm drag
by Cody Rhodes.

- Oh, Cody Rhodes showboats
a bit here at WrestleMania.

- That wasn't showboating.
That was shedding skin.

That was a fresh start
for the American Nightmare.

- One of the things that people
are critical about is,

oh, this guy was this,
this girl was this.

They can't kick out of that.

And I disagree with that.

I'm at my best form, and it
requires all these experiences

that I've had,

and it requires all this
leaning into the family

that I have.

- The Bionic Elbow,
like the American Dream.

- We tell stories in the ring.

And I needed that story
to be told in the ring.

[cheers and applause]

- Cross Rhodes!

all:
One, two, three!

[bell dings]

[cheers and applause]

[soft dramatic music]

- There's not a word
on Earth that can describe

coming up under those lights.

It's what
every wrestler chases.

There's no drug on Earth that
can provide a high like that.

I spent a long time
chasing it.

There's a lot of wrestlers
who got it right away,

and I don't begrudge them.

Great.
They figured it out.

It took the Code man
a while to figure it out.

- Right now
high above the clouds,

a certain son of a plumber

is grinning from ear to ear.

- One of the best things
about my dad--

I was his biggest fan,
but he was a fan of me.

He believed in me.

I hope--
You know, I'm a father now.

I hope that I can instill
that same belief,

'cause, man,
if he believed in me at 20,

he would have had
to wait 16 years to be like,

"All right, that's what
I was telling you about.

There he is."

But, yeah,
I can't thank him enough.

If he was here,
a lot I would tell him,

but the first thing
I'd say is thank you,

'cause confidence in this--

in wrestling will shake you.

And it never wavered,
never did.

It just took time.

- Man, Dusty was looking down
on him,

and I don't think Dusty
could have been prouder,

because, man, I was proud.

- What Cody did
was take how he was feeling,

and he turned it into fuel.

Undesirable to undeniable--

and let's be honest,
he's undeniable now.

- The Cody that came back
was so different

from the Cody who left.

He was a kid when he left.

Cody came back a man
with a newfound respect

for both WWE

and for the business
in general.

- For WWE
to be your home, that's...

That's special.

When I came back
at WrestleMania,

that's what everyone
kept saying--

"Welcome home.
Welcome home."

I have never once referred
to this place as home publicly

because I felt
like a hypocrite doing that,

especially after my departure
and everything I did.

* *

It is, without a doubt,

without a shadow of a doubt,
my home.

And it's wild
how it's worked out,

but...

I couldn't ask
for a better home.

- Two nights later on "RAW,"

Cody addressed
the WWE Universe.

- At eight years old, I knew
not what I wanted to do,

what I needed to do!

I was going to win

this championship belt
right here!

I was going to bestow it
into the hands

of the American Dream,
Dusty Rhodes,

and I would tell him,

"Nobody can take it
away from you now!"

- He wants to have
the things in his career

that Dusty didn't get in his.

I mean, it's like
he wants to finish it off.

[cheers and applause]

- Cody's proclamation
was a rallying cry

that united the WWE Universe
around him

like never before.

- The fans
wanted to love Cody.

And to know his story
and to understand his story,

how could you not want to cheer
for him?

- It's kind of like,
"Hey, that's one of our own.

"Good for him,
and I'm glad he's back.

I want to be on that team."

- Man, he had
so much momentum.

People were so with him
and behind him.

And you can tell, like,
he's on that rocket, man.

He's on that rocket going up.

* *

- [scoffs]

[bleep].
Uh...

- Today we are near
my ancestral home

in Atlanta, Georgia,

preparing and training

for my upcoming match
with Seth Rollins

inside Hell in a Cell.

[tense music]

* *

- Just two months
after returning to WWE,

Cody was faced
with a daunting task.

He was set to battle
Seth Rollins

in a match
known as Hell in a Cell.

The structure itself
has a brutal history.

- The cell will break bones.

It will shred flesh.

It will change careers
forever.

- No!
Oh, my!

As God is my witness,
he is broken in half!

- Cody was training for one

of the biggest matches
of his career.

Then, just three days
before the event...

a monumental injury.

- I got hurt bench-pressing.

It was devastating
and embarrassing.

How it happened, just putting
a bar above your head,

and the next thing you know,
your chest rips from the arm.

- Bruce Prichard called me
on the phone,

told me, "Well...

Cody tore his pec."

I said, "Are you
[bleep] kidding me?"

- Initially, we're thinking,
"Oh, my gosh,

"how are we going
to substitute

this match that we have
in this event?"

It was the headline.

- I've had the same injury.

I know what it feels like
when you do it.

I know what it feels like
a couple days later.

You find out a lot about
people when they get injured.

It really shows
your true inside.

- The option to not wrestle
was the option

for everybody but me.

I have them on my phone still,

the amount of voice notes
I sent about,

please do not cancel
the match.

Hey, Doc Amann
and I just spoke.

He did tell me no more damage
can come to it at this point.

I would really appreciate

being able
to perform on Sunday.

We're on last,

and it's the first time
I've had that opportunity.

- Cody was just adamant that
he was going to have the match.

So we had all of our experts
examine him

nine ways from Sunday,

and they agreed that he's
got strength in his arms.

He's got strength in his chest.

He can do everything,

but it looked gruesome,

absolutely gruesome.

- Well, you definitely
need to do it.

You need to compete
if you can compete.

But let's not kill ourselves.

- I was adamant
that I would perform,

that I compete.

These people paid
their money, you know?

You would have had to kill me

for me not
to be doing this tonight.

- I thought, "Oh, my God.

Do you have to do this?"

- Whew.

- And he said, "It doesn't hurt
as much as it looks like."

And I said, "You're lying."

[dramatic music]

- Seth Rollins adorned

in the trademark polka dots

of the American Dream,
Dusty Rhodes.

- Cody Rhodes looking
to end this chapter.

- No one would have thought
less of Rhodes

to back out of this matchup.

That's not who
the American Nightmare is.

Cody will not miss
this battle,

come hell or high water!

* *

- It's like oxygen.

I needed to be
in the ring that night.

If I'm gonna go out,
I'm gonna go out my way.

[cheers and applause]
Let's go! Let's go!

- I didn't know what
the audience was gonna think

when they saw
what his arm looked like.

all: [chanting]
Cody, Cody, Cody, Cody!

Cody, Cody, Cody, Cody!

Cody, Cody, Cody, Cody!

- Oh...my...God.

* *

- I hadn't seen
the injury backstage

at any point during the day.

I saw it
for the very first time

the same time
the WWE Universe laid eyes

on that gruesome injury.

The audible collective gasp
from the fans

sucked the air
out of the building.

* *

It was uncomfortable.

* *

It felt like
we were watching something

we weren't supposed
to be seeing

and that it could go
catastrophically bad.

It was a genuine concern

from everybody in the arena
that night.

- My reaction when he took off
that ring jacket was just,

"My gosh, what are you doing?

You must be in so much pain."

- It really added
to the storyline and the drama

and the intrigue.

[cheers and applause]

- Cody Rhodes truly has
the weight of the world

on his shoulders tonight.

[bell dings]

- I can't call it anything
but what it was.

It was really old school.

We came up
and lived by a moniker--

if you walk,
you go to the ring.

* *

- Aah!

- It's different
when you're watching your dad

as opposed
to watching your brothers.

You always have that fear
that something really bad

is gonna happen.

* *

- It was brutal.

I watched like this.

* *

- Cody showed
what he had inside,

and that's a lot more
than a lot of people.

- Every, like,
herky-jerky motion hurt.

And at one point,
right after a Cody Cutter,

if there was gonna be
a spot where the match ended,

it would have been right there,
because I nearly vomited.

- Cody Cutter face down!

But how much damage did it do
to Cody Rhodes delivering it?

- The referee that was
in there with me that night,

he implored me,
if you have a problem,

I'm gonna stop it.

So I had to make sure
he knows, like, I'm okay.

- It was very tough to watch.

Even though
you can't hurt it worse,

it doesn't mean
it doesn't hurt.

- Aah!

- Oh, my.
- This is just ruthless.

This is gruesome.

- Should this be happening?
I don't know.

But this is to give them
something to remember.

- Sledgehammer...

to Rollins!

* *

all:
One, two, three!

- Unbelievable!

[cheers and applause]

* *

That was
a downright Herculean effort

that we will likely
never see again

in a WWE ring.

- Thanks, boys.

[applause]
- Appreciate it.

- It showed people
not just how good Cody was

but how tough Cody was.

- I think that he lied

about the pain.

- Anyone who's asked me
how this feels,

I have lied through my teeth.

I have absolutely lied
through my teeth.

This is the most painful thing

that could possibly
ever be happening in my body.

I mean,
it's completely ruptured.

So, yeah,
you couldn't do it any more,

but, my God, it is the worst.

That was rough.
That was rough.

Everyone asks about the pec.

I hate talking about it.

I'm embarrassed
that it happened.

I'm not proud, but I do love

that it endeared me
to a side of the audience

that maybe hadn't come around
to me yet.

all: [chanting]
Cody, Cody, Cody!

Cody, Cody, Cody!

- Cody Rhodes has earned
every bit of adulation

for what
he accomplished last night.

- But if that's
what did it, then...

it's a pec well spent.

- Just days after his gutsy
performance at Hell in a Cell,

Cody headed
to Birmingham, Alabama,

to have his torn pectoral
muscle repaired.

- We're gonna start by just
making the standard approach

to the pec.

[monitor beeping]

- Big, deep breaths.

- Cody sustained
a complete rupture

of his pectoralis major.

I saw the match,

and I couldn't believe
he was doing it.

- Dr. Dugas is great.

He let me stand
in there and watch.

[tube slurps]

* *

He told me that it was
as successful

as successful could be.

- We were able
to put all of it

basically right back
to where it came from.

[monitor beeping]

* *

- I thought I was bulletproof.

News flash--I am not.

It took me ripping
half my body off

to find out.

Can never come back
and never recapture the fire,

or you can come back better
than you ever were.

[soft dramatic music]

- It's been four months
since Cody's surgery.

Today he's in his home
state of Georgia,

welcoming a new crop
of students

to his wrestling school,

aptly named
the Nightmare Factory.

- I quit my job as a nurse
and sold everything

that I own to come wrestle.

- Oh!
[applause]

It doesn't matter who you are.

It is an absurdly
difficult industry,

and you'll have success,

and then you'll wonder
why you don't have more,

and then you'll realize,

oh, I just
have to keep working harder.

This is the first time
we get to sit down with them.

We try to loosen them up
a little bit,

open it up for questions.

- How do you regain your
confidence after a bad injury?

- Good question.

- For the first time
in his career,

Cody was attempting to return
from a major injury.

* *

- For someone
who's been injured

and lost the thing
that you love,

the journey to getting it back
is not as simple as it sounds.

- It's good.
It's good, intact.

- I think
the toughest challenge

with specifically
this type of tear

is after the third month,
you feel relatively normal.

Then you get on a bench,

and you can only put up
3-pound or 5-pound dumbbells.

There's always
a little bit of nerves

about picking something up

or moving in a way
that there's a zinger.

- First concern you have is,

am I gonna be able
to make it back?

And it runs through your mind
during your healing process

and your rehabilitation.

- I hope I can perform
better than I ever did.

I honestly thought I was
the best wrestler in the world

the day I left
Hell in the Cell

with the pec already torn,

but I would need to be at that
same level or even better,

and there's an anchor
on my bicep

with my pec tendon tied to it,
so I am different.

So I got to be what I was
but different at the same time.

Just...

It's a game.

It's a mental game of, okay,
I feel really good about it,

and then I feel
really terrible about it.

The biggest thing
is not the injury itself.

The biggest thing is
how it weighs on your mind.

Will I come back?
How will I be received?

And just the unknown.

- You don't know what's going
to happen during those months

that you're out.

Who's gonna come up?

What's gonna
happen storyline-wise?

So you're sitting back,
and you're completely helpless.

If you don't have that
inner confidence in yourself...

[scoffs]
It's complete misery.

- In wrestling,
things can change...

[snaps fingers]
Like that, and now I'm out.

So what's gonna happen
when I come back?

- Are you going
to feel the same?

Are you going to be able
to perform the same?

Is the audience going to care?

Are they going
to remember you?

Mentally, it's just a very
challenging place to be in.

It can lead to depression
at times, a lot of anxiety.

The days seem to stretch,

and it feels like
it's never gonna happen.

- I'm so glad that today,

from a standpoint
us as wrestlers

or WWE superstars can talk
about the mental health,

the sports psychology
involved with such a high

and then being met
with such a low.

The only saving grace
for that period was,

obviously, my wife was there
with me every step of the way,

but I got to be around Liberty

more than I would have been
around her,

you know, being on the road.

Can you say "I love you"?
- I love you.

- Cody is a total family man,
just like his dad.

He realizes...

to be a family man,
you got to be there.

Your home is the heart
of three people.

* *

- In December of 2022,

after six months
of rehabilitation,

Cody stepped in the ring
once again.

- I thought I was
a really hard worker,

and then I get
the green light.

Doc Dugas says, you can train,

and you can get
in the ring, too.

And then I found out

there was a whole nother
layer of hard work.

[grunts]

* *

I mean, you can see
the manifestation.

As hard as I tried
to keep muscle on

and develop my muscle...

I got as lean
as I have ever been.

* *

I got as healthy as a wrestler

as I've ever been,
as an athlete.

* *

- WWE Medical requires
that performers

go through an evaluation
to be cleared for competition.

- Today we were going
through his warmup strategies

to basically prepare himself
before any match going forward

and then getting in the ring
today to get cleared.

- I'm Carmelo Hayes,
NXT superstar,

and we're here
to get Cody ready.

* *

- That was really exciting,
for me to feel ready.

* *

- The thing about Cody is,

he thinks that, you know,
I'm here to help him,

but in reality,
he's helping me.

It's cool to get in there
with somebody,

such a pro like Cody.

I think he's ready to go, man.
He was fine.

If anything, I had to take it
up a notch to meet him.

- Everyone was there
to help me check those boxes.

Good?
- Yeah, that's good.

- Yay.
- Yay.

- Head up.
- Yeah.

- Did it.

- He did awesome.

So I have no reservations
or hesitations

about him going forward.

- The Royal Rumble
is the obvious destination

at this point.

You're looking right at it.

And if we're cleared
with no restrictions,

what are we waiting for?

And the next step
will be pulling the bus

into San Antonio
and the Alamodome.

* *

- One month later,

Cody stepped off
his bus in San Antonio, Texas,

to compete in WWE's annual
Royal Rumble match.

In this contest,

the winner receives
a championship opportunity

at WrestleMania 39.

- There's fear, in terms of,

can you even do it at the
level you were doing it at?

But I've been visualizing it
for seven months.

So, walking in here, so far,
it's exactly what I wanted.

[bell dings]

- The following
is the 30-man

Royal Rumble match!

[cheers and applause]

- 30 men,
every man for himself!

Over 50,000 strong

at the Alamodome
in San Antonio, Texas.

And here we go!

* *

- Nothing can prepare you
for wrestling like wrestling.

- The ring filling up
with superstars.

- I hadn't been having
big, big, big matches yet.

* *

- This is entry number 15.

- Seth "Freakin" Rollins
is here!

[cheers and applause]

- And now eliminated
by Gunther.

- Coming into the Rumble,

you could spend some time
in there.

- Here comes number 30.

- In my case, I came in
at the lofty number-30 spot.

[buzzer blares]

[energetic rock music]

- The American Nightmare
is here!

His recovery
from the torn pectoral muscle

has been well documented.

- Let's roll, right?
Let's roll! Let's roll!

[dramatic music]

- Cody Rhodes!

Oh, Rhodes!

Logan Paul
sent over the top rope,

and it's down to two!

It's down to Cody!
It's down to Gunther!

- The first chop
that he put across my chest

and on the area that had
been surgically repaired...

* *

It was like
coming alive again.

* *

And he made me feel it.

- You saw everything
Cody Rhodes

put himself through
to get ready,

to battle back,
to be ready for this moment

here tonight
at the Royal Rumble.

And now Gunther looking
to eliminate Cody Rhodes

and win the--

Oh! Cody Rhodes!

Cross Rhodes to Gunther!

Cody Rhodes!
Gunther!

Eliminated!

[cheers and applause]

[triumphant music]

The American Nightmare,

one step closer
to the American Dream!

* *

- For me in that moment...

I felt damn good.

* *

- Can you imagine the feeling
after the torn pectoral muscle

and the match of the year
at Hell in a Cell

to this moment tonight?

* *

- It hasn't hit me at all...

the whole story
and what we do next.

That's once-in-a-lifetime
stuff, you know?

- You guys did all out.
Great job.

- Congratulations.

- I don't think I've ever been
beat up that bad in my life.

You know, I joke
a lot about, you know,

how she felt about me leaving
and the roll of the dice,

and to see me
in a successful moment,

that's irreplaceable.

You know, for a guy
who doesn't believe in destiny,

we're on a hell
of a course here, right?

Mm.

[soft dramatic music]

* *

- Cody had the opportunity
to fulfill his dream

and achieve the goal
his father never did...

win the WWE Championship.

* *

- At WrestleMania 39,

Cody had the opportunity
of a lifetime--

a Main Event match

against the WWE Undisputed
Universal Champion,

Roman Reigns.

- Nearly 2 1/2 years,

Roman Reigns has ruled WWE.

- He's in there
with the biggest Main Eventer

in WrestleMania history.

So he's more
than dipping his toes.

He's jumping in the deep end.

- Quite simply, Roman Reigns

exists in God mode.

- We have a mountain
that so many people

have failed to climb
and failed to conquer.

- Daniel Bryan and Edge
couldn't do it.

John Cena couldn't do it.

Sami Zayn
couldn't do it in Montreal.

Why should I be the one?

- For some, you have become

this impossible mountain
to climb.

But that's kind of my thing.

There's no way that Cody
will survive Stardust.

There's no way
that 10,000 people

would pay to see me

and my buddy's
little indie show.

The goal posts
have continuously moved,

and I continuously punch it
through the uprights.

So, for everybody else,

Roman Reigns
might be impossible...

[crowd shouting, cheering,
whistling]

Just not for me.

[cheers and applause]

If there was one person
who could do it,

it's the guy who has been
trained his whole life,

whether he knew he was training
for it or not,

to do it.

- He exudes confidence.

And you can tell he believes
in what he's doing.

It comes across on TV

as like, yeah,
this guy's locked in.

- I have waited my whole life!
I will wait no more!

On April 2nd,
Roman Reigns, I pin you!

I stick you in this ring
and become

the first Rhodes to ever say

he is the Undisputed
WWE Universal Champion!

[cheers and applause]

[soft dramatic music]

- All roads
lead to WrestleMania.

And joining us now,

WWE superstar,
the American Nightmare,

Mr. Cody Rhodes!
- Cody Rhodes!

- Oh, my gosh, what a buildup.
What an intro.

This is the most improbable
Main Event,

if you really look at it.

- Cody Rhodes one
was when you were here

to promote AEW.
- Yeah.

A year ago, I was an outsider.

Roman has been
to the Main Event.

This is number seven.
This is number one for me.

So heading into a match
with Roman Reigns,

it's the biggest thing anyone
in my family has ever done.

- Your daughter--

I mean, is she starting
to feel the wrestling?

- We'll see
how she takes to it.

She may end up being like,
"Nope, this isn't for me."

Or she may fall
right in love with it.

So we'll see.

- We can't wait
to see what happens.

Well, good luck.

[soft music]

* *

- I really want to win, guys.

God, I want to win.
I do.

But it's not just
about that anymore.

I still can't hand it to him.

I still can't tell him,

"Nobody can take it away
from you now."

I have my own family.

- Libby, ooh.
- Baby.

- Cheese!

- [voice breaking]
You know, one day...

she's gonna tell somebody
that her dad was Cody Rhodes.

[imitates whoosh, chuckles]
- [giggles]

And what comes back
is very important.

* *

- It's a matter of,

is it destiny
or not for Cody Rhodes?

- Cody Rhodes is taking
that title home tonight.

- Let's go.

I don't have
anything else to say.

Let's go!

- Cody feels like a champion
when he walks in the room.

Great chance for Cody Rhodes,
but it ain't gonna be easy.

- When I was underneath,
I could feel his hand.

So I felt like he was with me.

- Get a dream, hold on to it,
and shoot for the sky!

[dramatic music]

* *

[crowd shouting,
fireworks booming]

* *

- Being in that moment,
going on last,

it's just something that
my family can share

and be there for
and rally together.

- This is a moment
generations in the making

for the Rhodes family.

- I am so lucky to be here.

Absolutely
I worked my ass off.

I worked my entire life
for this.

Bet on myself.
Yes, that's great.

But I'm still lucky
to be in this spot.

* *

I'm living the first dream
I ever had,

and part of that is terrifying.

- Roman in the midst of one

of the most incredible
championship runs

in the history
of sports entertainment.

Cody Rhodes

looking to end that tonight.

- But part of that's
really fun.

Final inning here,
bottom of the ninth.

This is it.

You either do the thing,
or you strike out.

[bell dings]

- The following contest
scheduled for one fall is for

the Undisputed WWE

Universal Championship!

[cheers and applause]

- The last time
that Roman Reigns

was pinned in a match
was in December of 2019.

- Cody letting Roman know,

I'm here
to take what you have.

And Roman is eager to remind
the entire WWE Universe

that this is his world.

Cody trying to hang on.

Back body drop
through the table!

Cody's got a chance!

Oh, Cody Cutter!

- SoFi is rumbling!

It feels like we are
on the precipice of history!

- Cross Rhodes!

And a kick-out by Reigns!

- Does Rhodes have what it
takes to finish the story?

- Oh, my God,
Roman did it again!

- Rhodes trying
to psych himself back up.

- Oh, Superman punch!

Rhodes is out cold!

Cody's alive, though!

Roman can't believe it!

He's gonna do it!
Cross Rhodes!

Do it again, Cody!

- No! Solo!

- Oh, my God, not like this!

[soft dramatic music]

* *

- And still

the Undisputed

WWE Universal Champion!

* *

- Cody Rhodes

with the fight of his life.

His father,
the American Dream,

looking down, has to be proud.

- Main Eventing WrestleMania,

it really doesn't
get bigger than that.

That's a moment.

That's a moment
his dad never had.

Like, I can feel
his dad's presence there,

you know, watching that,
and without sounding cliché,

like, I know--I know what that
would have meant to him.

I felt like in that moment,
it was important

for me to reinforce to him
what he had just done,

because I think sometimes
it's easy

to just pass that off
and not actually sit back

and take a moment to go,
"Wow, I just

Main Evented WrestleMania,"
you know?

That's an accomplishment.

- I know people are proud,
and I appreciate that,

but this sucks.

It really [bleep] sucks.

* *

I'm not done.

The story is unfinished.

But a lot of good stories
have a lot of pages.

* *

- There is still work
to be done.

But through it all,
Cody Rhodes

has proven
nothing is impossible.

- It's really easy to say,
hey, when the book's closed,

the whole story is finished,
"He was Dusty Rhodes' son."

But then there's another way
you say it,

where he's Dusty Rhodes' son,

and that means a whole lot...

because of what
he was able to do.

* *

[fireworks booming]

- There is one key
to this business--

is believing in your worth.

If anyone is a testament
to that, it's Cody.

- Somebody said to somebody,
"Not you."

And to be able
to be the person

to turn around and say,

"I'm gonna make you
change your mind"...

However many years it takes,
finally, they say,

"You know what?
You were right."

God, that's great.

- From undesirable
to undeniable!

- What a beautiful story.

I mean, this is the story
that you make movies about.

- It's just
the sheer force of will

that he had to be
a star in the business.

- He's gone from being
a wrestler to being a star,

but now he's becoming
an attraction.

When you become an attraction,

you get so far ahead
of the pack,

they can't even see
your tail lights.

That's where
he's headed right now.

- He has built Cody Rhodes.

Maybe it got him looked at
at first

because he was Dusty's son,
but that's it.

He's built
an incredible career

and is delivering
at all times.

- It's no longer,
"Oh, that's Cody Rhodes.

That's Dusty's boy."

It's, "That's Cody Rhodes
right there."

- I got to meet Cody.

I gave him a picture.

- I'm just as proud of him
as a parent can be, period.

- I look up to Cody Rhodes,

not only in ring
but out of ring.

He's a great father
and husband.

- [imitates whoosh]
- Jump, baby!

- I'm proud of myself
as a husband and father.

[both grunting sweetly]

But as a performer,

I don't think
I can say I'm proud

because I haven't finished it.

- The chip his dad never got.

And believe me, he won't
give up until he gets it.

- Believing in himself,

that's his superpower.

- When people talk about me
or think about me,

I'd want them to say...

"I wouldn't bet
against that guy."

* *

I will carry this dream
on my shoulders

until it becomes a reality.

* *

- When is this documentary
ever going to stop shooting...

- Yeah, Matt, you're in charge.
- For this man?

- When is it over?

[Downstait's "Kingdom"
playing]

* *

- * Adrenaline in my soul *

- The game plan for today is,

I'm gonna walk through
our desert and encounter

various pieces of not
just my professional life,

but my personal life.

- * Whoa *

- You got an Usos shirt on.

[object thuds]

Unprofessional.

- * You took it all away *

* I give it all away *

* Can't take my freedom *

- I'm gonna say Tunisia
for this shoot

just because I think that's
where they did "A New Hope"

and all the "Star Wars"
Tatooine stuff.

So I'm gonna
tell people Tunisia.

See how far it can go.

- * I am my kingdom *

* Now you bow to me *