Cody Rhodes Weighs In On Notion Of a Heel Turn, Potentially Teaming With Paul Heyman

Cody Rhodes has been adamant in recent years that he’s not turning heel, but he says he’s been a little more open to the notion as of late. The Undisputed WWE Champion has spoken regularly about how he sees himself in a positive alignment similar to John Cena as long as he can. However, he’s been leaning a bit into an aggressive side over the last several months, to the point that Eric Bischoff and others have predicted a turn coming soon.

Rhodes spoke on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina about such a possible turn. Traina noted in a discussion of old school things they’d like to bring back to wrestling that he’d like to see managers return, and added he’s love Rhodes paired with Paul Heyman. Rhodes didn’t say he was favoring a heel turn but explained why he’s been “shifted” a little bit. You can see the highlights below:

On What Old School Concept He’d Bring Back:

“I’d bring time limits back. Because time limits — say you have a cold match, right? And I mean cold match by, there’s no previous heat or anything of that nature. Say you just had Dom Mysterio versus anybody. New guy, Ricky Saints, NXT. You had that match, and they have no previous equity, no storyline. There’s natural stakes when you first hear ‘five minutes gone, 10 remaining,’ or ’10 minutes gone.’ There’s natural stakes, there’s a clock. Jim Ross taught me that, and he was really accurate about it. You can give a match stakes that didn’t really have [them’ because crowds are the most important engagement we have for this. We do not just do this for ourselves. So if they’re involved with a ‘five to go,’ or as you see sometimes in New Japan. When they say ’15 minutes gone,’ you start to feel the crowd come up. ‘It’s getting serious. We’re getting in the deeper waters here, these warriors are going. I love time limits. They will never come back, unlikely, but I love them.”

On the Notion of Being Paired With Paul Heyman:

“You know, I’d say this is, I was really absolute in the past about saying, ‘I’m never going to turn heel. I’m never going to be a bad guy.’ If you’ve been around me lately? Ahh… three Manias in a row? That can that can start to shift you a bit, you know? Like, what do you want your legacy to be? And then also, you find yourself going the other way. ‘No, I want to make sure I make the right calls, right decisions as I move. And yeah.’

On the Value Creatively Of a Heel Turn:

“There’s a challenge in it. new, it’s fresh, it’s something. I would try to actually get heat, which is — online, I can already tell you. If they’re saying it’s bad online, then I know I’m doing my job. But the other side, there’s a challenge to being who I am. The other night I told Stephanie McMahon, ‘I got two words for you.’ And I just said, ‘Thank you’ instead of ‘Suck it.’ They wanted the other thing. And I thought, ‘I still have the ability to make that choice.’ have the ability to make that choice and get booed, but maintain the character. And that was an important, important choice.”

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