Paul Heyman Makes Things Personal With Cody Rhodes On WWE Raw
Real tears were shed on the 2/6 edition of "WWE Raw" in Orlando, Florida.
Paul Heyman invoked the name of the late, great "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes in a promo exchange with Cody Rhodes that — according to fans on social media — will go down as one of the best segments in modern wrestling history.
The segment began with Rhodes wishing the best of luck to Sami Zayn, who challenges Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber and could unseat the "Head of the Table" ahead of WrestleMania 39. As such, Rhodes could be challenging Zayn for the richest prize in WWE at the Showcase of Immortals, a fact that he acknowledged in his promo.
Soon enough, Heyman interrupted Rhodes, and what followed was an interaction that got a tad too personal. Rhodes was the first to pull back the curtain, recounting a story from the year 2000 when his father was legitimately broke until he received a call from Heyman.
"ECW gave my father his confidence back, and I can never, ever repay you for that," a teary-eyed Rhodes told Heyman. "Also, from one disruptor [co-founder of AEW] to another [founder of ECW], you showed me the way. Thank you."
At this point, a loud "Thank you, Paul" chant broke out until Heyman credited Rhodes for "catching me off guard" when his real intention was to talk business. Heyman then proceeded to talk about Dusty's time as head trainer at WWE's Performance Center, where the likes of Reigns, Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch trained under the tutelage of Dusty.
"You, Cody, were his favorite son," Heyman told Rhodes. "But Roman Reigns was the son he always wanted."
An emotionally-charged Cody then pulled Heyman in for a forcible handshake.
"I'm only trying to win a wrestling championship, but everyone wants to make it personal," Rhodes rued. "And that's what you just did. You're not gonna pay for it, Mr. Heyman. Your boy, Roman Reigns, is going to pay for it at WrestleMania when I take those titles — personally."