Cody Rhodes ‘Didn’t Have a Plan B’ For WrestleMania 42, Talks Returning To Las Vegas

Cody Rhodes says he had no backup plan in mind for WrestleMania 42 and would have considered it a personal failure if he didn’t main event the show. Rhodes is set to defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton at the PLE, but he had to win back the title on last week’s Smackdown to get that match. Rhodes tried and failed to win the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber after losing the title to Drew McIntyre in January, and his title win marked a last chance berth to main event the show.

Rhodes was asked about a plan B had he not beat McIntyre during an appearance on Complex Graps. He admitted he didn’t have one and would have considered it a failure on his behalf had he lost to McIntyre, and that he felt he needed to “get back” to Las Vegas where he lost the title to John Cena last year. You can see highlights below:

On What His WrestleMania Plan B Would Have Been:

“Gosh, you think about the questions that you’re going to get asked. And I wish I thought about a good answer for the for that question, but maybe that’s really the answer in itself. I didn’t have a plan B in terms of — it becomes champagne problems when you start, ‘Oh, you main event a WrestleMania.’ The first time I main evented WrestleMania, I didn’t win, but I got the taste for it. And the idea and the goal becomes, ‘Well, I’m going to main event WrestleMania again, but I’m I’m going to win this time.’ Then the first Saturday I didn’t win, and then finally Sunday in Philly I did. Again, the taste and the addiction to it becomes, ‘Well I’m going to come right back to this spot.’ When we come back to WrestleMania in Vegas, and this is John Cena and he’s going for the record.

“I’m not sure what plan B would have looked like. I know in my mind I would have considered it — not to use such a harsh term. I would have considered it a failure, but on my behalf. So maybe a failure on my behalf would have found me inspired or doing something different. I’m not sure, I really felt that I needed to get back to Vegas.”

On Going Back to Las Vegas:

“I also felt going back to back in the city where I got to hear them last year? The whole build between me and John on the way to WrestleMania 41 was — really I enjoyed it. It was very — the international crowds, and I felt like it felt very just normal wrestling, in a sense. They’re booing John, which was crazy even in places that would cheer him to start, and then they’d always give me this great reception.

“But I felt I knew going into Vegas — Vegas particularly was going to be a big time away game. I felt like all this work could — great, this is good but we’re going to get there and you could get booed out of the building. And I don’t know, maybe I like the pain. Maybe I like the pain a little. It’s like, ‘Hey, I’m going to go back. See if they give me the same.’ Like, ‘Hey guys, I’m here. I’m here again.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Complex with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.