WWE Champion Cody Rhodes has recalled his first encounter with Randy Orton, and how their upcoming WrestleMania match feels like their first match.

Rhodes debuted on the main roster against Randy Orton in 2007, and the former was immediately impressed by Orton and the aura that he exuded. 

“I remember having a sense of awe about the guy, who I really enjoyed his, you know, I liked what he had done as the youngest world heavyweight champion. I was very inspired by him as a third generation or just another child of nepotism, you know, breaking into the industry, [and] I had a sense of awe about me. But I also had this really large amount of confidence because I knew I wasn’t ready to wrestle Randy Orton, but they had booked me to wrestle Randy Orton. So, my thought was, I’m going to get to grow up in front of this audience. I was going to be sink or swim, trial by fire. And I just needed a few things to go right in that match to be able to buy myself more time to carry on,” Rhodes said on “Insight.” 

Orton, famously, had a bad reputation for his behavior back then, which Rhodes realized. But he still admired him for trying to impart the wisdom he had gained from those he had encountered in the business.

“I liked how he carried himself and he was, you know, prickly back then, but I liked how he carried himself because he took the lessons he got from all the guys who brought him in and he started to kind of hard push them on the people that were going to be in his orbit.”

Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton have faced each other numerous times since that first meeting back in 2007, but Rhodes has a sense of freshness about his ongoing feud with Orton. He explained how he he had a similar feeling when he faced John Cena at WrestleMania last year.

“I have a match with a guy who I admire and respect and want to model part of my career after and here we are now and I can tell you that wrestling him at WrestleMania almost feels like it’s never happened before, which is crazy ’cause we have wrestled before. It feels like it’s a first time match ever, just like it was with John [Cena] last year,” he said. 

Rhodes brought out the differences between Orton and Cena, stating how they were like the angel and devil on each shoulder, giving him words of advice and wisdom. “The American Nightmare,” who will be main-eventing WrestleMania once again in Las Vegas, said that he embraces the challenge of being the main event player once again.

“It’s why I kind of welcome the pain coming into Vegas, because the fact that I got to wrestle John at his last WrestleMania and now I’m going to wrestle Randy Orton, returning to the main event, and I’m the one who’s been the incumbent main event guy for the last four years,” he said.

The WWE Champion has main-evented WrestleMania over the past three years and will continue that trend this year, this time going up against a close friend and mentor.

Royce Keys has disappeared from WWE programming since debuting at the Royal Rumble, and a report has revealed details about a condition he set before joining the promotion.

Keys, who joined WWE from AEW, has been placed on the main roster and did not have to go through WWE’s developmental program, “WWE NXT.” “Fightful Select” reported that he was “adamant” about debuting on the main roster rather than going through “NXT.” While he hasn’t appeared on WWE television, Keys seems to be busy in his new home, with the report adding that he has filmed some projects with WWE, while his likeness was also captured for the WWE 2K video game. The former Powerhouse Hobbs, despite not being used on television, has traveled to “WWE SmackDown” over the last few weeks, wrestling dark matches against the likes of Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Rey Fenix. 

Recent reports had indicated that WWE hasn’t featured him yet to allow him to better understand the company’s way of functioning. While it may be a disappointment for his fans that he hasn’t been seen on WWE television, the promotion may have some plans for him, to introduce him to a huge audience at this year’s WrestleMania 42. 

Reports suggest that Keys could team up with Jelly Roll, who recently returned to WWE and appears to have begun a feud with The Miz and Kit Wilson. The storyline, according to the report, is that the former AEW star and the Grammy winner could find common ground in their struggles. Jelly Roll has been in one match in WWE so far, which came at last year’s SummerSlam, where he teamed with Randy Orton and faced off against Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre.

Despite graduating from prospective standout and into “The World’s Most Dangerous Man in AEW,” Swerve Strickland still has skin in the game. And as always, men like him recognize who will ascend to the same heights or higher than he has in his 18-year career so far. Although his tenure in WWE was cut short (2019-2021), Strickland looks forward to seeing how these budding stars, who aspire to be like him, will fare in the Stamford-based promotion in the years to come.

“WWE has some guys coming up, like Oba Femi, young dude, powerhouse, great dude. I look forward to his growth,” the former and first-ever Black AEW World Champion in company history shared in an interview with “Baller Alert” before listing off a few more names. “Trick Williams, like, charismatic, can talk anybody into a building; look forward to his growth. Je’Von Evans. Young guy. He grew up watching me, he said. Now, he’s 21-years-old living his dream on the main roster…Great kid; looking forward to his growth…Hopefully an influence on our side [AEW] influences their side [WWE], and then we both grow together.”

As of now, Strickland is on a warpath back to the top. After taking out “The God of Professional Wrestling” in Kenny Omega, for the foreseeable future, Strickland has acquired other beastly opponents, like Brody King, whom he faced at Revolution this past Sunday in Los Angeles.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Baller Alert” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.