Cody Rhodes has heard the rumor floating around social media that he pitched to lose his championship — and on the Double Coverage Podcast, he shut it down completely, calling it a story that is “wildly made up.” The former Undisputed WWE Champion says no wrestler has ever voluntarily asked to drop a title.
Rhodes has won championship gold everywhere he has gone, from Ring of Honor to All Elite Wrestling to WWE, where he has held the Undisputed WWE Championship three times since returning to the company in 2022. On the podcast, he said he first noticed the claim being repeated as fact about eight months ago, with people referencing it as evidence in online arguments.
Cody Rhodes on wrestlers and losing titles
“If you ever hear a story of a wrestler pitching to lose a title, you should know right out of the gate. They’re lying,” Rhodes said. “No wrestler has ever said, ‘Yeah, I want to, I need to lose the title.’ My gosh, that’s the meal ticket. You want somebody to take it from you. You don’t pitch it.”
He drew a distinction between a veteran planning out a retirement match and an active champion asking to be dethroned, insisting the latter simply does not happen in the business. Rhodes added that the conversations on X “only take place there” and encouraged skeptics to attend a show, where he says fans are having a great time and love all of it.
The Double Coverage Podcast interview
The pitch-to-lose rumor was not the only title talk in the interview. Rhodes also discussed why he considers the WWE Championship his favorite title in wrestling, brushing aside critics who dismiss it as a “walking billboard” and arguing it is the belt most connected to the wrestlers themselves.
It remains unclear which specific title reign the original rumor referred to, but Rhodes’s message was unmistakable: champions do not volunteer to lose.
Cody Rhodes (Credits: Fightful)
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Source: Fightful — read the full story there.