Cody Rhodes Defends His Raheem Promo Directed At CM Punk And Roman Reigns

Cody Rhodes recently spoke about the pushback he received online following a memorable television promo. There was an in-ring segment on the February 6th edition of Friday Night SmackDown featuring the popular babyface. He was responding to the tense promo segment involving Roman Reigns and WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk that took place the prior Monday on Raw.

A specific portion of Rhodes’ response to the Reigns-Punk segment caught the attention of the internet. Rhodes stated, “And besides, I heard it was gonna be a ‘you know what’ measuring contest. Well, they’re both glad I’m not in it, because I didn’t get the nickname Raheem for no reason.”

Rhodes was later interviewed by Jonathan Hood and addressed the ‘Raheem’ line directly. He stated that his wife, Brandi Rhodes, actually encouraged him to use the joke on television. Cody added that he did his own ‘field testing’ of the line behind the scenes before delivering it live.

He addressed the pushback he received online and said he viewed it as a harmless, positive joke. “I had told her (Brandi Rhodes) that I might say it. I felt bad because I told her and then she said, ‘Oh, you have to say it. It’s funny,’” Rhodes explained. He clarified his intentions regarding the other two stars.

“I didn’t wanna come at Roman (Reigns) or (CM) Punk in an adversarial way. I’m not wrestling either of you. You guys are wrestling each other and it’s awesome. I feel that those things will come,” he noted. He wanted to inject some humor into the intense situation.

“I wanted to come at it with a little bit of levity because I knew others were gonna come at it from a different perspective, and I thought that was funny,” Rhodes stated. He then discussed the negative reactions he saw from certain fans online.

“I very much stood by it and when you see a Manchester United in the bio and an anime picture as the avatar complaining about it, I gotta ask, what are we really complaining about here? This is more of a positive joke than there could ever be about gifted men,” he argued.

He refused to apologize for the line. “I can’t really be mad at that and I can’t really walk that one back… I said, ‘I’m not gonna spend my road to WrestleMania talking about two other guys. This is where it ends for me,’ and I picked a great place to do it. Charlotte, North Carolina, was the place so, yes, I said it, and that’s where I’m at,” he ended.

Rhodes is currently making the media rounds for WWE ahead of the Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event. The broadcast takes place on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at the United Center in Chicago. He is scheduled to be in the men’s Chamber match with Trick Williams, LA Knight, Randy Orton, Je’Von Evans, and Jey Uso to determine the challenger for Drew McIntyre’s WWE Championship.

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