Nowadays, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton are peers on the "WWE SmackDown" roster. Back in the mid-2000s, though, Cody was working his way through WWE's developmental system, while Orton already had two world title reigns under his belt on WWE's main roster. On a recent episode of "What Do You Wanna Talk About," Cody reflected on the advice that Orton, the then-WWE veteran, once gave the up-and-coming stars of Ohio Valley Wrestling.
"I remember Randy came down to OVW and he was doing a match at Six Flags," Cody said. "He told everybody, he didn't have much to say, but they gathered us up for his speech. He just said, 'Make sure you're having fun because the moment you go on the road, it's still fun, but it's a very different type of fun and it's a business.' He said, 'This group, you'll never forget, who you trained with, that funny moment when you were watching PLEs or pay-per-views on your couch, thinking about when that will be me, or when your friend got called up and you got to see it firsthand and you knew how real it was.' Yeah, that time period is so much fun."
After years of in-ring training alongside his father, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, Cody joined OVW, one of WWE's developmental brands, in 2006. Throughout that year as well as 2007, Cody enjoyed reigns as OVW Southern Tag Team Champion and OVW World Heavyweight Champion, all while getting in reps with other rising stars such as Shawn Spears, Aron Stevens, and Jimmy Snuka Jr. In 2007, Cody also began making appearances on WWE's main roster, with his television debut coming in the form of a loss to Orton on "WWE Raw."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "What Do You Wanna Talk About" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
