Cody Rhodes Claims He Is the Biggest Draw in Pro Wrestling, Roman Reigns Begs to Differ

During last night’s ROH Global Wars event, Cody Rhodes successfully defended the ROH Title against KUSHIDA.



ROH has released the following post-match video featuring Rhodes commenting on his win, and claiming that he is the “biggest damn draw in this entire industry.”

A fan on Twitter alerted WWE star Roman Reigns of Rhodes’ post-match comments, and Reigns, without seeing the event or the video, responded by saying “I don’t even need to click the link and watch it. If that house didn’t draw over 100K. He’s just talking silly.”



In recent weeks, Reigns has been quite aggressively responding to the current independent wrestling scene, as we noted earlier this week that Reigns took a shot at The Young Bucks after WWE recently demanded that the team stop using the famous “too sweet” hand gesture. Reigns also doesn’t appear to be a fan of the current celebration of DX’s 20 year WWE anniversary, as he reminded fans on Twitter that him and The Shield defeated the legendary team.

Cody Rhodes Takes Shot at Roman Reigns’ Past WWE Drug Test Failure


The current beef between Ring of Honor Champion Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns continued during last night’s ROH Global Wars iPPV, as Rhodes opened the show with a promo which included shots aimed at The Shield member.



In case you missed it, following Saturday night’s successful ROH title defense, Rhodes cut a backstage promo during which he claimed he is currently the biggest draw in professional wrestling. The claim caught the attention of WWE star Roman Reigns, who responded by saying Rhodes was “just talking silly”. You can check out the Twitter exchange below.

According to ProWrestling.net, Cody kicked off last night’s ROH PPV by addressing the live crowd, and said the weekend Global Wars tour was the most lucrative in Ring of Honor history. Rhodes then took a shot at Reigns by saying he thought the tactical vest Reigns wears in the ring was covering his gut and a failed drug test. This was in reference to Roman Reigns’ past WWE Wellness Policy violation which resulted in Reigns being suspended by WWE for 30 days.



Reigns has yet to respond to Cody’s latest shot, but if his recent Twitter behavior is any indication, Reigns could fire back at anytime.

by the way, Global Wars was another great show.


Anyway, so what do you all think about this. It all kinda makes me chuckle. I'd buy a ticket to see Rhodes long before I do that for Reigns.

Cody all the way!

I'm pretty sure everything Cody has said or done is all just in character, not sure about Reigns.


I think it's all pretty pointless.

Cody being the top draw is no more of a stretch than when Reigns said he was improving in Cena's absence. Lol ticket sales down across the board. Okay guy.

That said I love social media and wrestlers. So much insecurity at our fingertips!

I almost believe WWE made some secret deal with the Bullet Club to do all this stuff.

It’s all pretty silly. Cody was in character & Roman was better off not saying anything. I am enjoying all of this though.

I'm pretty sure they're both in character and really enjoying themselves. Why not have a bit of fun back and forth? I really wish they could just sign Cody/Bucks/Kenny on the sly and have them debut unexpectedly.

I stand by The Shield.

I can't stand what The Bullet Club has become.

In jest or not, Codys statement has to be factually untrue. How many people turn up to ROH shows, somewhere in the vicinity of 3000-5000? Not trying to take a shot, genuinely curious and basing that off of what I read in Bryans book about 2500 being a huge number for them years ago.

Oct 17, 2017 0:19:09 GMT Call said:

In jest or not, Codys statement has to be factually untrue. How many people turn up to ROH shows, somewhere in the vicinity of 3000-5000? Not trying to take a shot, genuinely curious and basing that off of what I read in Bryans book about 2500 being a huge number for them years ago.

In fairness to Cody, ROH is in the best shape it's ever been in and they're doing much better than what they were doing during Bryan's time in the company. Back then they'd be lucky to average 600 fans a show, these days they nearly have double that average.

In saying that, I'm not sure how much of that has to do with Cody. ROH got in bed with New Japan and ever since they established that relationship attendances have improved.

Oct 17, 2017 0:19:09 GMT Call said:

In jest or not, Codys statement has to be factually untrue. How many people turn up to ROH shows, somewhere in the vicinity of 3000-5000? Not trying to take a shot, genuinely curious and basing that off of what I read in Bryans book about 2500 being a huge number for them years ago.

He's the heel champion delivering a post-match promo, they don't have to be factually accurate.

At best, it's just the two having a bit of fun, and if not, I don't get why Roman's all of a sudden getting into the mud with this stuff.

WWE is just making Bullet Club more and more money. They're pushing these guys harder than their own talent.

Bullet Club has made wrestling fun again. Love them.

Normally WWE doesn't explicitly acknowledge any other wrestling organisation so the fact that one of their top guys is openly e-feuding with one of the top independent talents is pretty cool in my book.

Cody's just living up his gimmick as the hottest guy not in WWE. He doesn't actually mean what he's saying for the most part. It's a a character thing. I expect it's the same for Reigns. As for choosing between the two, Roman all the way. Cody is a mediocre wrestler who has received a monster push on the Indies for god knows why. Reigns is one of the best in-ring guys WWE has in my opnion, and he's getting better on the mic.

Personally, Cody Rhodes wouldn't be half as popular as he thinks he is without Bullet Club, and he wouldn't be in Bullet Club if it werent for his time in the WWE, and really, he wouldn't have been in WWE, if it wasn't for his last name. And he'd probably wouldn't be speaking out of turn so much, if he wasn't so fortunate.

Make no mistake, he's a good hand and I'd put the IC/US title on him anyday. But he ain't great. Roman Reigns is a bigger star. Simple.

Being a bigger star doesn't make you a better wrestler

Absolutely, but in this case Reigns happens to be a bigger star and a better wrestler.

Oct 19, 2017 22:04:09 GMT Emperor said:

Absolutely, but in this case Reigns happens to be a bigger star and a better wrestler.

I beg to differ.
I really don't see how people can say Reigns is a better wrestler.

Oct 19, 2017 22:10:34 GMT Mistress said:

Oct 19, 2017 22:04:09 GMT Emperor said:

Absolutely, but in this case Reigns happens to be a bigger star and a better wrestler.

I beg to differ.
I really don't see how people can say Reigns is a better wrestler.

I suppose the easy way to answer this is to say that Reigns has had a number of matches I consider great, and Cody hasn't had a single one. Actually, the Okada match was great, and that wasn't just on Okada. I'll give him that one. Are there any specific Cody Rhodes matches that lead you to believe he's a better wrestler than Reigns?

To go in more detail, Reigns is better at pretty much every aspect of wrestling than Cody. He has better offense. He's a better seller. He's a better storyteller. He's better at the little things: facial expressions, gestures, so on. He's shown he's able to wrestle compelling matches against a variety of opponents on the big stage. He knows his character. He carries himself like a star. I'm not saying Cody doesn't have any of these traits. He certainly does. But I don't think he's better at Reigns in any one of these aspects. His only trump is that he has a larger moveset (which isn't always a good thing, but Reigns' moveset is far too limited at the moment).

Cody has a lot going for him. I've always praised his ability to take a character, no matter how absurd, and put his soul into it, unleash his creativity, and make it work. He did it as Dashing Cody Rhodes, as demented face mask Cody Rhodes, as Stardust, and now as the American Nightmare. Reigns will never be that versatile a character worker or a promo. But I think Reigns is light years ahead of Cody in the ring.

Lance Storm, and Dean Malenko were arguably better ' wrestlers ' than Chris Jericho. But Chris Jericho is the better worker.

So, pretty much what Emperor said.

Rhodes is one of those performers I've had a soft spot for, even though when it comes down to it, he's average. I completely agree with you Emp when you say he's the type of guy who pours his energy into whatever gimmick he's doing. Compare him to Ted Dibiase Jr. Both guys were in a similar position when Legacy broke up and yet Dibiase Jr completely floundered as a singles while Rhodes went onto carve a decent run for himself. His two best matches from memory were against Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania 27 (which is beginning to feel slightly underrated) and as a tag team with his brother against of-all teams, The Shield. Those matches were fantastic and I really need to go back and rewatch them whenever I'm feeling bored.

I can't really begrudge his current run because at the end of the day he's making more money now than he did in the WWE and is better off. My only gripe with him is that he isn't Adam Cole.

Reigns is no different than Lesnar, Strowman and Big Show.
Big men doing big men moves

I'd never call any of them great wrestlers, even being a huge Lesnar and Strowman fan.

A great wrestler is someone who does more than power moves..
Kurt Angle is a great wrestler and Reigns is not even in his league

What's wrong with big men moves? Or do you only qualify as a wrestler when you can do acrobatics?

Lesnar was an NCAA wrestler and a UFC Heavyweight Champion, so it's odd to say he can't wrestle.

Oct 20, 2017 11:34:50 GMT Big Pete said:

His two best matches from memory were against Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania 27 (which is beginning to feel slightly underrated) and as a tag team with his brother against of-all teams, The Shield. Those matches were fantastic and I really need to go back and rewatch them whenever I'm feeling bored.

I vaguely recall the Mysterio match, but needs a rewatch. I have no recollection of The Shield match. Speaking of Ted DiBiase Jr., what's he up to these days?

Oct 20, 2017 11:53:54 GMT Mistress said:

Reigns is no different than Lesnar, Strowman and Big Show.
Big men doing big men moves

I'd never call any of them great wrestlers, even being a huge Lesnar and Strowman fan.

A great wrestler is someone who does more than power moves..
Kurt Angle is a great wrestler and Reigns is not even in his league

Reigns/Lesnar and Strowman/Show are different flavours of wrestler. Reigns and Lesnar are big but not especially tall and surprisingly agile/athletic. Strowman is also very fast, but he's also tall and muscular, much like Show in his early years. Strowman right now has a ton of potential but at the moment he's mostly getting over by popping crowds with his shocking athleticism and explosive power moves. Come to think of it, it's not that much different from a random cruiserweight popping the crowd by springboarding, diving, and flipping around a lot. Why does popping a crowd with acrobatics make you a better wrestler than popping the crowd with gorilla press slams and powerslams?

Reigns and Lesnar in particular are far more than just big guys doing big men moves and nothing more. I've already described how Reigns has more substance than that, and I won't repeat myself. Lesnar is similar, although admittedly he's gotten by in recent years by appearing infrequently and doing his suplex city thing. Often he doesn't need to much more than that. But when Lesnar needs to sell, and sell properly, he sells his ass off. I've maintained for years that Lesnar is one of the best sellers ever, and honestly I think in this phase of his career he's a better seller than he's ever been.

Oct 20, 2017 11:53:54 GMT Mistress said:

Reigns is no different than Lesnar, Strowman and Big Show.
Big men doing big men moves

I'd never call any of them great wrestlers, even being a huge Lesnar and Strowman fan.

A great wrestler is someone who does more than power moves..
Kurt Angle is a great wrestler and Reigns is not even in his league

Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, The Rock, Austin, John Cena... hell, The Undertaker. Not great " wrestlers " in the traditional sense, if Bret Hart is the measuring stick. The funny thing about pro. wrestling is, being a great technician and/or this inflated sense of workrate and/or athletic display we see from smaller performers has very little merit, if you can't engage the audience. Get over. 

These guys did the biggest business in the history of the business - but they weren't great " wrestlers " - funny that. But they're great workers, great performers. That's pro. wrestling. 

Reigns will be talk about in the same breath as Hogan, Austin, Cena in years to come. Not even close comparison and I like Cody.

Really don’t see how Cody can recover from losing at Mania but it’s a lose/lose situation. When he finally wins it, the fans will just turn on him in a few months.

It’s going to be Avengers after end game, where do we go from here?

Apr 1, 2024 4:04:47 GMT System said:

It’s going to be Avengers after end game, where do we go from here?

This is something that keeps popping up - as a storyline and a reality. 

Night 1 is going to be Infinity War - the good guys lose. Night 2, is going to be Avengers Assembling for Endgame.. 

But kayfabe aside, if Cody wins. We've finally come to that point we've been talking about for 3 years. Reigns is defeated, he loses the title and there's a new Champion... and it won't live up the hype. It will be great for a while, but like Endgame, nothing will really matter in the aftermath. Where to from here? Title matches for Nakamura and Sami Zayn?

Y’all are looking at Wrestlemania and Cody winning the title as the end game(and I get it) but it can also be the beginning of a new chapter. There is still the huge potential of a Cody vs Rock feud. He is the Final Boss after all. With the way they’ve built the Wrestlemania angle, I do see Cody/Rock happening at some point. That match could possibly set up the Roman/Rock Wrestlemania match next year. There’s multiple avenues for this to go after WM. All i know is I’m not about to count out WWE’s creative team after they’ve successfully pivoted from Rock/Roman to what we have now.

I’m not so sure the crowd will just turn on him. That isn’t really how it works anymore in WWE. The contrarian fan is old news. But I suppose it could happen, and if it does, then just run with it and turn him heel. The chase is the fun bit anyway.