Cody Rhodes is revealing how his WWE creative process works, and Paul Heyman clearly plays a major role in shaping the final product.
While speaking on his What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast, the American Nightmare explained that he likes to build his ideas first before taking them to Heyman, because going straight to him would be too easy.
“I just spoke to somebody, I said, let’s put this together first, then go there. Love it. Then go there. Let’s bring him ours and then go there ’cause if we go there first, we’re not even challenging ourselves as artists.”
Cody said Heyman has accepted that some ideas already come in strong, but his real value comes in Gorilla, where he can look at what is on paper and add something special to it. Rhodes then made it clear just how valuable Heyman is when a segment needs that extra push, calling him the “cheat code.”
“But the magic now, and I don’t think he’d be offended in me telling you is he sits up in Gorilla in the corner of Gorilla and he looks at what’s on paper and he adds legitimate magic to it. He’s the cheat code and I need the cheat code some nights.”
The Undisputed WWE Champion also compared Paul Heyman’s approach to Dusty Rhodes’ old mindset, saying the Oracle looks at scenes, stakes, and dialogue like they are making movies.
“Mr. Heyman might give it a, hmm. I saw this scene once and this is similar and the stakes and what if you said something like, he’ll look at it from the way my dad did. We’re making movies, kid, we’re making movies, kid, that was always, we’re making movies.”
Cody added that WWE has several creative voices who bring different perspectives, including Michael Hayes and Bruce Prichard. Hayes focuses on where the story goes next week, while Prichard brings his own Texas wrestling influence.
“You got Michael PS Hayes down the hall. PS is gonna take it from the perspective of where does that leave us in the week? And then don’t you want to get here? And that’s gonna be even better. Then Bruce is gonna speak to you from the perspective of Paul Bosch and Texas. And he’s got his own. The flavors here are so wild that, like I said, it’s a cheat code.”
For Cody, the process still starts with ownership over his own character and story. He wants to bring the best version of his ideas forward before letting WWE’s creative minds refine them: “Most of the time, this is my story. This is my character. I want to get it as good as I can. And then you guys fix it up, filter it, produce it for me.”
Cody Rhodes’ comments show how much collaboration goes into his WWE presentation. While he still sees the story as his own, he clearly views Paul Heyman, Michael Hayes, and Bruce Prichard as key figures who help turn strong ideas into television moments.
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