A year ago, it was hard to fathom the notion of former Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes turning heel. However, he was booed at WrestleMania while facing John Cena, not that long after fans started rooting for Kevin Owens over him during their rivalry.
Even though we know better than to take that very unique audience as an indication of how wrestlers should be booked (Dominik Mysterio received a babyface reaction at the same show), it proved that fans were at least open to the idea of not universally supporting the American Nightmare.
Rhodes made the mistake of not turning heel in AEW, leading to a surge in hostile crowds. He's largely dismissed the notion of breaking bad in WWE, but appears to have had a change of heart.
Asked over the weekend if he's tired of being the nice guy, Rhodes replied, "I don’t ever get tired of it, because you get to have all of this in these moments. I do think we’re probably at the tail end of it, though, because there’s only so much someone can like you. I would love to do it till the end of my career, but there’s only so much."
"It’s like, 'All right, we do as well. We cheer for them.' At a certain point they want to see somebody else. I get that, and that’s where you have to change as a character," he teased, addressing how much longer he thinks he has left as a babyface. "I think you have a good, solid year, maybe even three years. Because I again, I am not changing until I’m changed. If that makes any sense."
It sounds a lot like Rhodes will only turn heel if the fans turn on him and demand it. As of now, all signs point to him winning the King of the Ring and battling John Cena (or CM Punk) at SummerSlam for the title. If that New York crowd is anti-Rhodes, then it could be a game-changer.
As for what his villainous turn could look like, he added, "You’ll know because X and Instagram will hate it. Because today heels are like, 'Oh, that’s a cool heel.' We’re loving John Cena, no. If you’re burying it and hate it and talking about how you don’t want it on your TV, that’s what an actual bad guy is."
"If The Rock had it his way, I would have been changed already. So I think he sees something that maybe I don’t see, and that’s a very smart individual. So maybe I follow his lead. Maybe not."
WWE fans have quickly grown tired of Cena's heel turn, so how wise it would be to head down the same route with Rhodes is hard to say.
You can hear more from him in the X post below.