Before Juice Robinson lost the IWGP United States title at NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed, he conducted an interview on his match against Cody.
During the interview, Robinson explained what was wrong about the NWA Worlds Heavyweight champion and stated that,
“He ain't the American Dream. That belongs to me now. I'm the American Dream now. That's true, right here, red, white and blue.” Robinson claiming to be the new American Dream got him some heat within the wrestling community, as many believe that Dusty Rhodes is the one and only American Dream.
After Robinson’s match Sunday was all said and done, he issued an apology during his post-match interview.
"I said something couple of days ago, that I actually want to clarify right now," Juice explained
. "I said that I was the 'American Dream', and I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but I'm going to say this, because I want to apologize to the Rhodes family. I want to apologize to anybody that I offended. I did not mean that I was the 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes. I did not mean that. There was only one 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes. There will always ever be one 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes, I know that. I loved that guy so much, and I respect him so much. I did not mean any disrespect when I said (that).
"What I should have said, what I meant was that I'm living my American dream. This is the American dream for me to get here, my version of that. I'm not Dusty Rhodes, nor am I trying to be. But I looked up to him, and if a little bit of him has rubbed off to me, I'm better for it. So I want to apologize, especially to Dustin Rhodes; I don't know if he took offense to that, but somebody told me he might have. So I apologize."