Summary

Cody Rhodes explained that his current top rope splash is intentionally more of a fall than a jump.

He said the move started as a contract-signing spot built around putting someone through a table while still holding the pen and contract.

Rhodes added that over time, including after high live-event versions of the spot, he committed to what he called a non-jump splash and said that at TV it is now lovingly called the New Jack splash.

The source text also notes that Rhodes and Randy Orton are set for a WrestleMania 42 contract signing on Friday's SmackDown.

Cody Rhodes splash explanation adds context before Randy Orton contract signing

Cody Rhodes publicly reframing the move as a controlled fall creates a concrete consequence, fans now have a clearer read on what to expect if he goes to the top rope during the WrestleMania 42 build.

With the Rhodes and Orton contract segment set for the next SmackDown, the timing also reinforces how this spot remains part of Rhodes' on-screen identity.

Quotes

Quote from Cody Rhodes

"Well, a couple of things. People love to watch the table get broken. There’s only so many ways you can break a table. I don’t like setting the table up in the corner. I think that’s lame. You got to break the table. You got to break the actual table. Legs need to be down. We were scrambling for something to do in a contract signing at some point in my career, and I thought, hey, why don’t I just splash you off the top rope and keep the pen and the contract in my hand? There’s something fun about that. Plus, people love a table breaking. They’re chanting, ‘We want tables.’ By God, give them the tables. Then what would come of it is on the live events, which are no longer intimate and just for that crowd, because people will film something they saw that night and it’s out there."

Cody Rhodes later went on to say:

"My splash from the live event started to make it out, and that is just a prime example of you don’t always see your age, and then maybe you see your age. So I think I’m at the prime of my career. I think I’m psychologically the best I’ve ever been. As an athlete, believe it or not, even with that splash, I feel like I’m the best I’ve ever been. However, I have committed to the idea of the Splash is a non-jump splash, it’s a fall splash. I like to get straight as a board. I like to really get out like a tree frog being flung from a tree. The one overseas, in Germany, was so high up, the idea that I would jump is insane. So now we just call it at TV lovingly, the New Jack splash, where I just fall. So there’s no splash involved. It’s just going to be a fall. But yeah, it started as the idea people love a table, let’s do this at this contract signing. What could we do? Oh, we could do this, and then we could grab your hand, and it would be a thing, but it’s developed into the New Jack splash, and I have no shame with it at all, because people do seem to enjoy it. They do. That is not a showcase of my athleticism. That’s not the one I would put my hat on athleticism over, this is just my splash and how I do it, and it’s become part of my repertoire now. So you know, if I go up there, don’t expect me to jump. I’ll be falling."

Sources

As reported by Fightful.