Cody Rhodes Best Friend

The wrestling industry is known for its feuds and alliances over the years, which could be either temporary or permanent in the ring based on the storylines. However, certain friendships are beyond business. Usually, the wrestlers spend most of their time training, traveling, and wrestling with other superstars and building strong relationships with other co-stars. Some have best friends within the roster, some have friendships across brands and companies.

Cody Rhodes has been one of the friendliest wrestlers in the industry, who has gotten along with multiple wrestlers throughout his career. Over the years, he has worked with multiple superstars and has a long history with them, on and off-screen. It’s easy to say that everyone is friends, but it takes something special to be a best friend.

Also Read: Who is the father of Cody Rhodes?

Who is Cody Rhodes' Best Friend?

Former WWE superstar Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) is the best friend of Cody Rhodes, as per reports. Cody also has a good friendship with Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, MJF, Randy Orton, Ricky Saints, The Young Bucks, and Brodie Lee (Luke Harper). Cody admired Orton and Hardcore Holly as his mentors. He shares a close bond with QT Marshall and DDP of the Nightmare Factory.

Matt Cardona

Matt Cardona, formerly known as Zack Ryder, is a great friend of Cody Rhodes. They have known each other for a very long time, since the beginning of their wrestling career in 2007. They trained together, wrestled together, and spent time together for almost a decade and a half. Both Cody and Cardona debuted the same year in WWE, where Cardona debuted in the ECW brand under the name Brett Major and in SmackDown as Brian Myers alongside Curt Hawkins. On the other hand, Cody debuted on Raw with a feud against Orton and had a tag team run with Hardcore Holly. Both have been on the tag team division of their rookie year, and both were on the heel stables. They spent a lot of time off the screen with their families and hung out together.

In August 2020, before the AEW debut, Cardona had an interview with Scott Fishman of TV Insider, where he spoke about his friendship with Cody Rhodes. In the interview, Cardona talked about how they became friends and how they figured it out.

"It’s funny because Cody and I were not friends. We broke into the business at the same time. We were kind of like competition for each other. Not that we hated each other by any means. It’s with any job. Some people you’re friends with and some people you’re not. He was one of the people I wasn’t friends with. I don’t know how we figured it out, but we both realized we loved theme parks.Then there was this new Harry Potter world Diagon Alley opening up at Universal Studios. We went together. That was the first time we really hung out outside of work. The next thing we know we’re going to theme parks all the time together and are best friends," he said.

Although they worked on different promotions, both never failed to complement each other. In April 2020, after being released from WWE, Cardona tried Indy Wrestling, where he mentioned that Cody was his inspiration to try Indy Wrestling, where he had won multiple championships, including the NWA and GCW World Championship. In March 2023, Cody told Good Karma Wrestling that he is proud of his best friend Matt Cardona for his Indy run.

"I'm really proud of him, he's out there doing the indie guy thing with the Indiana Jones hats," Rhodes said. "Matt has been king of the indies now, this is going on year two, you usually only get one run in that role, he's going on year two."

Cody then has a thought that it would be cool if he joins AEW, but he wants Cardona to return to WWE. He also shared a memory of Cardona, who refused to associate with Cody in the ring wearing a Nightmare Family Jacket.

Kevin Owens

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens first met when Rhodes was in WWE in the mid-2010s. Owens was quite upset when Rhodes left WWE. In an interview with Corey Graves, Owens said:

"I have people in this business that are really more like brothers to me than friends. It's not everybody, but there are a few people out there that I consider more like family. Cody is one of them, so when he left, it was a blow to me."

It is also reported that Owens helped Rhodes settle when he started wrestling on the independent circuit.

Kofi Kingston

Both Cody Rhodes and Kofi Kingston have won a WWE title at WrestleMania in a dramatic fashion. Further, the two superstars began their careers in WWE at almost the same time, and thus have always been great friends with each other.

The Young Bucks

When Cody Rhodes left WWE, he soon became one of the biggest names on the Ring of Honor roster. The Young Bucks were on the roster as well, and the three stars got along pretty well. Further, Rhodes and Young Bucks were the brains behind All In 2018, the iconic event that laid the groundwork for All Elite Wrestling.

Also Read: Cody Rhodes' Wife

Randy Orton

Randy Orton was a mentor to Cody Rhodes during his initial days. Rhodes was a member of the Legacy faction under the tutelage of Orton, and the two stars got along with each other. In various interviews, Rhodes has revealed that he considers Orton to be his mentor.

MJF

What Randy Orton was to Cody Rhodes, Rhodes became to MJF. The latter has been an on-screen and off-screen protege, and claims him to be his great friend and mentor.