Wrestling Universe, USA – Pro wrestling sensation Cody Rhodes has always been a storyteller, sharing tales from his dynamic career that spans WWE, ROH, NJPW, Impact, and AEW. However, one story stands out amidst the chaos of his life, and it involves none other than the wrestling idol of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr.
During a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast, Rhodes regaled listeners with a remarkable tale that left hosts Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Davis in fits of laughter. This narrative delved into the tumultuous events leading up to and following Cody’s birth, involving a wrestling legend who would become his godfather.
Cody Rhodes, known as “The American Nightmare,” is the offspring of “The American Dream,” the late Dusty Rhodes. Born in the mid-80s, at a time when the wrestling landscape was far from the monopolies we see today, Cody’s arrival into the world was marked by a wrestling extravaganza.
At that time, the NWA, led by Jim Crockett Jr., was a major player in the wrestling world. Dusty Rhodes, Cody’s father, was associated with the company, and he embarked on a journey with Cody’s mother, Michelle Rubio, which would soon turn chaotic.
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During an NWA event held at the Forum in LA, Michelle Rubio went into labor and had to be urgently flown out. This flight, which would forever be etched in wrestling folklore, also accommodated wrestling luminaries such as Magnum T.A. (a personal favorite of Dale Jr.), Arn Anderson, and Manny Fernandez, “The Raging Bull.”
Cody recalled, “So my dad’s having a party in the sky trying to make my birth on the other side, here at Charlotte, at Presbyterian Hospital, and Magnum is on the flight with him, and a wrestler named Manny Fernandez, The Raging Bull, Arn Anderson is also on that flight. I think at the time they didn’t want anyone knowing that. They just get absolutely wasted, just beyond hammered.”
Despite this inebriated in-flight celebration, Cody had already taken his first breath, and in his joyous stupor, his father Dusty decided to designate a godfather for his newborn son. The options were narrowed down to “The Raging Bull” and Magnum T.A., and Dusty chose the latter in a moment of spontaneous decision-making.
Cody humorously added, “But this is again one of these moments where they are just flinging it, you know, like who knows.”
The story takes another amusing twist when Magnum T.A. later forgot that he was Cody Rhodes’s godfather, and it wasn’t until Cody was 20 years old that he had to remind Magnum of this unique honor. It led to a hilarious realization on Magnum’s part.
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“Magnum had forgot until I was like 20 years old and I finally told him, ‘You know you’re my godfather?’ ‘Oh my gosh, yes, I do.’ He was at the christening and all that,” Rhodes concluded, describing Magnum T.A. as one of “the most nice guys about modern wrestling.”
