While Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns won’t be fighting at WrestleMania 42 as originally planned, there’s still palpable tension between them in the ring, from their shaky alliance at Bad Blood 2024 to them competing on the same WarGames team in 2025. Interestingly, both men were cast for the upcoming “Street Fighter” film adaption – Rhodes playing the heroic Guile while Reigns plays the villainous Akuma – and according to Rhodes during an interview on “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet,” the producers intentionally tried to keep him and Reigns apart.
“We had one day on set,” Rhodes said. “I think they thought we were gonna fight or have issue, because … they were very cognizant of, we would not cross paths. And we did, because I had to tell him the direction of one of the trailers, and that was our only moment and it was a very awkward, like, the weirdest – that’s a crazy relationship! I have nothing [but] admiration for what he’s done and accomplished, but … I don’t even like talking about it, because I don’t know what it is. It’s just a very strange relationship.”
“The American Nightmare” might not want to go into detail about his relationship with “Joe,” but he had good things to say about his former rival’s performance in “Street Fighter.”
“I can tell you what I saw was really special,” he claimed. “[Director] Kitao Sakurai put something really special together.”
Cody Rhodes believes fans of Street Fighter will love the upcoming movie
When it comes to the entire cast – packed with names like Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jason Momoa, and David Dastmalchian – Rhodes claims the set was a fun experience. Sakurai apparently allowed Rhodes and the rest of the cast to experiment and improvise based off of how they appear in the “Street Fighter” video games.
“I think people who grew up loving the game – which, I grew up loving the game, and I loved the original movie, not ironically, I actually loved it – I think they’re gonna be very pleased with the fan service the movie does.” Rhodes added.
“The American Nightmare” also believes fans of the video game will be happy with how the characters appear in the movie and look like their video-game counter-parts. Rhodes’ character Guile’s peculiar high-volume flattop has often been a topic of discussion even amongst “Street Fighter” fans, but unlike with the 1994 film, it was recreated for Rhodes to wear.
“It’s yak hair. I don’t know if that’s a big spoiler. It never moved,” he explained. “It’s essentially if you got into a fighter jet and you flew … I believe the idea was that is from the wind and the Gs? Who knows? Or maybe it’s just him styling it with the comb; which, the comb is present on set as well.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.