Cody Rhodes Reveals Street Fighter Inspiration For His Neck Tattoo

Cody Rhodes says that his (in)famous American Nightmare neck tattoo took some inspiration from the Street Fighter franchise. Rhodes, who plays Guile in the new film adaptation of the franchise, revealed the news in his appearance on Last Meal.

Rhodes spoke about how he decided to get the tattoo done and wanted to differentiate himself from the Bullet Club, which he had just exited when AEW launched. He said that the artwork is “a bit derivative” of Shadaloo, the evil organization headed by M. Bison in the franchise. You can see highlights below:

On the Inspiration For the Tattoo:

“I’ll make a revelation to you that no one knows. When I got the American Nightmare, the skull logo, I was coming from a group in New Japan called the Bullet Club. Skulls, AK-47s crossed like this. In Japan, that was a different — it felt different than it does here… in Japan there’s no guns, so they’re not — it’s more fun. It’s not — here, it means something different.

“And I wanted to get away from that. And no disrespect, I just wanted my own logo. So, when doing the American Nightmare logo, it’s a bit derivative of Shadaloo, which is the main villains of the Street Fighter canon, and M. Bison’s logo… this logo is actually slightly derived. So when you’re looking up in the Burlesque Hall in one of the scenes in the movie, because M. Bison welcomes you to his World Warrior tournament, it’s actually one of the examples I gave the artist who made this logo in the first place.”

On Not Overly Regretting It:

“I’ll say it’s a regret because of maybe the logo itself, because of its size and its placement. But it’s been nothing but a career on an upwards trajectory ever since.”

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