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Cody, I want to go back to WrestleMania in Vegas, following your title defense with Randy Orton, the aftermath that happened, you were viciously attacked. That punt kick was brutal. You sustained a serious orbital injury. We spent weeks watching it try to heal in real time. Take me through the wave of emotions in dealing with all of that. I don't know if words really cover the emotions in terms of the punt kick happening in the first place. This is, you know, file it away with the pallet driver in terms of a thing that we don't do anymore, and there's a reason why we don't do it anymore.
Obviously the emotions and the fact that it was Randy Orton, but I think we'd already crossed that bridge as to where Randy was and who Randy has become. What I would say is everything you needed to know about me, everything you needed to know about me happens after, I got up and I walked. I didn't put on some silly manila neck brace, I didn't have myself boarded away. I got up and I walked out and I tried to make eye contact with as many people as I could and let 'em know two things, still the champ, still here,
and if that's Randy Orton's best shot, and Randy Orton was at his best ever, what does that say? And I'll extrapolate further on the fact that I don't mean this with arrogance. I'll be forthcoming and say I'm pretty lucky and I don't know how much more luck I have. You know, I don't want to speak negatively or sound not confident going into a match with somebody like a Gunther. But I have been very lucky. And that's a night where I was lucky to leave with the championship that means the most to our game, but also leave without a concussion, leave without orbital fracture at that. And I was able to show the people, like you said, it's gonna heal.
And when it does, where does that leave me? You have an incredible support system. Now, you're somebody who we see everywhere, every day, you show up for work, you're making all the shows, doing all the promotion, doing all the community service, but following WrestleMania and what happened to you and the injury that you sustained, you had to spend time with your family. And that was, I assume, a very good thing to be with Brandi and your daughters. How much so? I mean, you got to see Liberty at WrestleMania to be in the front row. Leilani, that's her first go round with it all to, you mentioned a great support system that I don't wanna undersell that because I've learned that you really are a product
of who you put around yourselves. And I have set my life up to operate at a high level as a WWE athlete and a WWE Superstar, and those people make that. So, the family. You mention my family. Yes, I get to spend more time with them. And yes, I needed the time. There's no healing like the healing that you get at home. But history repeats itself. And I recall my father talking about having to walk around the house with his face all busted up in cast whatever had been done to him at the time and see his children. Nothing can prepare you.
No matter how you look at pro wrestling. Say you look at it as entertainment or you look at it as sport or somewhere in between, nothing can prepare you for a 4-year-old asking you, "What happened to your face?" For a 4-year-old asking you, "Are you gonna be okay?" Nothing did prepare me. And I again, just hope that's a, I hope it's not a regular conversation. Cody, following everything that happened to you at WrestleMania and the injuries you sustained, the time spent with your family, how important was it for you to return as quickly as you could and to reestablish yourself as QB1 of this industry?
It felt very important coming just a "Monday Night Raw," and having an interaction unexpected at that with the CM Punk. It felt very important because you say QB1. What is QB1? If anything, and maybe the thing I've learned that QB1 is the most is consistent. There's always a flavor of the month, right? There's always some hot new thing, and good for it that's exciting when the crowd can get behind something or something new shows up. But all my faves, all the QB1s before me were consistent.
They were a week in and week out. And now there's all these jokes about how I've really tried to follow the John Cena model. And I don't mind those jokes at all 'cause that's a hell of a model. And I think most people run from it because it means work. And I'm also aware of the other QBs in WWE. If their strategy is less is more, if their strategy is more strategic, then I'm not gonna play that game. I'll do it differently. I'll be here every week and I'll see this team every week. It's just, it's not a matter of who's right or wrong, it's my preference. So, to be shaken out of my preference would've been very difficult.
And Ricky Saints comes to WWE debuts coming up from NXT, as much as he did it in a braggadocious bullish way, and as much as he pulled my card in the way he did, I needed that. Thank you, Ricky Saints, because that's the moment that I can say, all right, I am cleared. And not only am I cleared, we're not gonna wait. We're not gonna do this big presentation, and this less is more strategy to it. No, we'll wrestle right here, we'll wrestle tonight.
Sami found that out as well. So, I appreciate those guys shaking me out of any type of feeling down in the dumps, because I shouldn't have. I left WrestleMania and I even said that to CM Punk, and it was a mistake to say it that I didn't feel so much like a winner and I had been. And I need those challengers, I need them. I'm addicted to the top spot. I'm not afraid to tell anybody that. And I needed them to come in when they did. After the run you had in that road to WrestleMania and how much it can potentially take out of somebody like you who has your status
and has your role in this industry, you would think, and then the match itself, and then the aftermath and the injury sustained, you would think you could be tired and eroded away and desperate. The version of you that came back that was medically cleared, seems like it has more fight in that guy, more desire to fight, how so? Is tough to answer because I don't want people to think that I'm gonna go back on principles or that my moral compass changes because of bad apples amongst me. But I will say in, if you look at Gunther, I wasn't gonna wait for him to shoot first.
I'd already felt what that feels like. So, for me to do that is just turn about his fair play. And I had absolutely no problem with that. And if you say, as someone who observes this and watches it and sees it every week, and not just while we're doing it, sees us at TV, sees us walk around, sees us interact, if you say that, then that's a good thing. That's a good thing, because this again, the richest prize in our game, how long can you keep it? It's not false, but it's certainly a cliche to say it's much harder keeping and defending the WWE Championship than it is, than winning it in the first place, and I found that out.
This is the third reign. You know, it's been 10 years since I had left WWE in the first place, 10 years since I left unexpectedly, just on a weekday without anyone knowing, and I just let the world know I'm gone, I'm out. I have had the distinction and I have had the privilege of growing up in front of this audience, and what you mentioned coming back after WrestleMania and everything that it takes outta you, it hurts, but I can tell you it makes you feel a lot more free. And the reason I bring up that 10 years ago is because it's been nothing but a gift to me to not only make the right decisions, and not only do the right things in front of the audience, but also make the mistakes.
Also trust somebody like a Randy Orton, and then you end up getting your head kicked off. But that's not a character, that's my life, and this has become my life. So, if you need a little more edge, you need a little more grit, that's what Gunther gets. Time to have the conversation about Gunther, that is right in front of you. Over the course of the past year, he has now taken on a moniker that has been earned as the guy who kills careers- Right. Sends stars off into retirement. Yeah. What makes this version of Gunther so dangerous? Not to flip a question on you, but do you consider that something that makes him dangerous? Because beating the greatest of all time, John Cena,
on paper, you'd say that makes you dangerous, but I felt like he got John Cena in the winner of his career. AJ Styles, beating AJ Styles bell to bell, we're comparing him with the likes of Shawn Michaels. Who's better than AJ Styles? But again, at the end, at the end, I beat AJ Styles, I beat John Cena and Goldberg. No disrespect to Goldberg. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, I love Goldberg. But Goldberg was in for one final outing one final shot. And he outta season outta practice. I don't think there was a person on earth who thought that was gonna go any other way than it did. So, I'm not gonna look at Gunther with fear because he ended careers at the end of those careers.
I'm not looking at him with fear. I'll look at Gunther with fear because Gunther is the best version of himself that he's ever been. Look back at old WALTER stuff, and I think we're okay to say, WALTER- Sure. Look back at old WALTER stuff, look at wXw, look at NXT or NXT UK, hard, hard hitter, but also quick as a cat. You look at an Ernie Ladd or a Vader, and you think one thing, you think it's gonna be this big, you know, forearm to the side of the head and instead he's got excellent, excellent, hard to beat fundamentals.
He's a wrestler's wrestler. He is every wrestler's favorite. But we have history. And sometimes you got somebody's number, sometimes you got somebody's number. And I think his outlook on me has been that I have his number. And I think that's what's caused this entire yo-yoing back and forth with Nick all this on I'm gonna sign a contract, I'm not gonna sign a contract. I'm gonna come and "SmackDown," I'm not sure, you're outta options. "Raw" is done with you, so this is where you need to wrestle now.
You need to wrestle on "SmackDown," in here you are not getting the red carpet, you're not getting all these things, 'cause what do we have? This is what we have and it's mine. And I love the fact that he wants it. Come and get it. Come and try and take it. Royal Rumble with Gunther, was the first experience I had with him. San Antonio Royal Rumble, he put that across my chest and I had just come back from pec surgery. I felt every bit of what I needed to feel in that moment. So, any fear I have of Gunther is because of the wrestler that he is
and not of the careers that he's killed. I'm not gonna be on that list, I'm not, I'm not there yet. And I think maybe that's the thing that bothers him the most. It's fun picking off legends, that's gotta be fun. But that's also like wrestling outside of your weight class. That's a novelty. That's a novelty, this is a prize fight, and I think it's the first one he's had in a while. Cody, you brought up Gunther and the situation he's in with his career and landing on "SmackDown," trying to get under your skin, playing the mental games.
Also some of the vicious attacks, you've attacked him back. What's your read on all of this with him? I think some people are gonna look at Gunther and say, what a classy professional. I mean, he's here, he really is. If you think about it, he's the American dream to come over here from Austria to become a citizen and to become, you know, to make all this American money here at WWE and do it in a real classy way, which he had done really up to now. And now we've got this, "Hey, call me Mr. Gunther.
Hey, say please." And it kind of reads like he's going through a phase of trying to be something he's not. And I know that's the last thing you want to say about, gosh, a 6'5" monster that is Gunther is to tell him, I think you're going through a phase, but that's what it feels like because I think he believes that the squeaky wheel gets the grease at WWE and now he's gonna be a squeaky wheel, now he's gonna make trouble for everybody. But that's not something you need to do when you're the champion. So, we can strip it all away, that whole veneer rip it down, and it's somebody who wants the biggest title in all of pro wrestling and sports entertainment. So, I see through that.
It's not a mental game. If anything, it's a waste of our time. I'm excited at the fact that I get to wrestle Gunther in Italy on a major PLE. I'd be excited at that match as a fan. It's a major, major match. This whole side of him that we're seeing now, it's smoke and mirrors, and it's fine with me if you wanna play that way. I think I've tried to push myself too hard on people. Let's shake hands, let's have respect. You wanna know who Gunther is?
Look back at my podcast, sit down with him. Because as much as we were being diplomatic and kind to one another, that's two guys that wanna rip each other's heads off. That's someone who thinks he's better than I am. And I'm sitting here telling you, Joe, right now, I feel I am better than Gunther. So, let's find out. Let's just find out which we get to do. Cody, you mentioned Clash in Italy. Here we are, another major match in Europe. The last time we were over in Europe watching you in a major world championship match, it did not go the way that you thought it was gonna go.
Sure. Recently, Gunther and the buildup to this world championship match has taken on this anti-American resentment towards USA way about him. Yeah. Another mind game, another sinister way of going about it, leading up to what we're dealing with here at Clash in Italy? That's probably the trickiest question, right? But if Gunther wants to make this a versus America situation, that's just not the road I'd go down. I don't think that helps you no matter where we are. I said it to him, I have the American flag tattooed on the side of my neck, but he's the one who's making it weird.
I learned a long time ago in wrestling that we're never needing to make this about America versus, or your home country versus, now, we don't need to do that in 2026. Last time I lost was in Germany. I don't want to be the dumb American that just assumes Germany is like Austria, and Austria is like Italy and Italy is like France. They're all their own extremely different thing. Europe is not a monolith, and I found that out. And here's something that I would cite, the last time we were in Italy, there's video of me in the ring saying, "Hey, if you guys want us to come back
and bring a bigger show, make some noise for me." The international language that we all talk is pro wrestling. If Gunther needs me to play American villain in Italy, sure, he can think that, he can have that whole outlook on it. But for me, one of the most beautiful things about being an American right now in extremely divided country is that we can still go everywhere, and we can still show what we love to do and what you love to consume and watch. And we can agree on this thing, we can agree on wrestling. I am not in policy, I'm not a politician. Some have said I am, but I'm not.
I go over there because the show is over there and they deserve the show everywhere in the world. And we have things about us that are different. And this goes for everywhere we go. We have different beliefs, we have different rules, we have different laws. My job as WWE Champion is to bring this, to bring the thing that we agree on so we don't have to focus on the things that we don't. So, respectfully, Gunther can take that entire America versus him versus America and he can shove it up his ass. Let's get into the match itself. At the end of the day, it's gonna be the two of you inside the ropes,
and all of this that's been building goes away. Strategically, how do you accomplish what so few have done, especially at the championship level with Gunther? When he fights for gold, how do you simply defeat him? You want me to give it up, give him the strategy? I'd love to hear. No, I'll be, I think the strategy when you wrestle a bear like Gunther is the same strategy you'd have if you were fighting him backstage or if you were in an alley fighting him or in a bar fighting him, it's a void the chop. You know, you hear commentary say that could bring down a tree, and- What does that knife's edge feel like when you- It feels like your heart stops, and you think about Gorilla Monsoon talking
about how the chop used to take the wind outta you. It does that as well. And not only that, when there's no wind in you and you feel like your heart just stopped, you're not thinking about what you do next. And when you're not thinking about what you do next, you end up getting chopped again. Avoiding that chop and keeping him moving, and he's quite aware that this would be my strategy 'cause we are familiar with one another in the ring, keeping him moving. Again, I grew up watching pro wrestling where Sting would wrestle Vader, Shawn Michaels in there with The Undertaker. So, many different examples of having to keep it moving because the longer it goes and the deeper water that we get into,
the less he has in the tank. And he's not gonna tell you that, I'm gonna tell you that, and I hope I'm right. Do you see that in his eyes? Do you hear that in his breath when you take Gunther to deep water? It would be nice of me to carry on my confidence in this moment, but I might go a different way with it and tell you that what I see in Gunther's eyes is probably the most conviction. And that's the only word I can think of, the most intimidating look I have seen in quite some time. Because Gunther, as I've sat here and talked all about what I know about him, Gunther knows something about me,
or at least Gunther has surmised something about me that I'm getting tired, that I'm wearing fin, that even just now sitting here doing this interview while he's training or doing something to prepare for this match, it's starting to take a toll. The whole world is of that same thought. So, as much as it's a look of conviction and a look that can intimidate, if anything it motivates, it does. Because I'm not done yet. My career is not on the line. Again, not a novelty match, it's a prize fight and there's a prize and I have it. Man, I think I need to beat Gunther more than Gunther needs to beat me. And that's a good place to be going into Italy.
