Summary

Cody Rhodes pushed back on Pat McAfee's recent Attitude Era comments and said WWE has already moved far beyond needing to lean on that period as a creative crutch.

Rhodes was responding to McAfee's promo from the April 3 episode of *WWE SmackDown*, when McAfee called for the Attitude Era to return while taking shots at the current state of wrestling. Rhodes said that kind of nostalgia does not reflect where WWE is now after a run of record-setting business, including back-to-back landmark WrestleMania events.

Quote from Cody Rhodes

Speaking on the SI Media podcast, Rhodes said:

"Does he? He's standing there doing fart jokes and WrestleMania catchphrases, yelling 'What?' at a bunch of kids who don't even remember 'What?' He's talking about the Attitude Era. It was 30 years ago. I would've been ten. We got them. They had a great run. When he did that, I was mad. I won't say who, but we had a partner with WWE who did merch for us and they did all Attitude Era merch. I remember going and being kind of disgusted. I'm speaking on behalf of my generation. I loved the Attitude Era, but we did all this work, WWE is on ESPN and Netflix. WrestleMania 39 broke records, WrestleMania 40 broke those records. At what point do you want to shine a little?"

What Rhodes' comments mean for the McAfee story

Rhodes is not just knocking one line from Pat McAfee here, he is framing the whole feud around a bigger argument about what modern WWE is supposed to look like. That gives the build to WrestleMania 42 a clearer edge, especially with McAfee continuing to escalate things on television.

It also sharpens Rhodes' title program with Randy Orton. McAfee has cast Orton as someone who can "save" the business, while Rhodes is arguing WWE does not need saving by a vision rooted in the late 1990s. That makes the championship match about more than just Orton trying to take the belt.

WrestleMania 42 backdrop

McAfee has said Orton, despite not being part of the Attitude Era himself, can be the one to pull wrestling back in that direction. Rhodes is set to defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Orton at WrestleMania 42, so the debate over nostalgia versus the current WWE product has become part of the larger title feud.

Sources

Cody Rhodes while speaking with Jimmy Traina on the SI Media podcast