"It was an intense jealousy" - Cody Rhodes discusses why he was envious of NXT stars

WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes recently admitted to having jealousy towards NXT stars coming up in the system.

Cody is a second-generation superstar, the son of Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes. He returned to WWE last year at WrestleMania. He debuted in 2007 and had an eventful run. However, during his first stint with the company, he was stuck mid-card for most of the time and later requested release in 2016.

Rhodes spoke with Sports Illustrated this week ahead of his first WrestleMania main event. He mentioned that while he started working on the main roster, he never had the opportunity to be mentored by his father. He revealed that he resented some of the NXT stars that were under Dusty's tutelage.

"I think the jealousy was probably more intense than I even want to admit. It started before he had even passed when NXT was down the street from my house in Winter Park near Orlando. Cody continued, "I wanted to be in Dusty's communications classes as he called it, but it was a promo class. I wanted to know what he was sharing with them. We'd never had that interaction. When he was a writer for WWE and I was brought up on the road, he asked to be taken off the road and he went to Florida and started that job, so we were never really truly a coach and a player. It was an intense jealousy."

Cody Rhodes was competing with stars like Charlotte, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, and many more

During the same conversation, Cody Rhodes detailed that while he was slipping down the card, he noticed other stars tutored by Dusty was coming up the ranks.

"I had slipped myself down the card and you're seeing, specifically the ones that were tough to watch were Charlotte, Roman, Mox, Seth, Kevin, Sami, Sasha, Bayley, those were very tough to watch and I definitely lashed out." (H/T Sports Illustrated)

The American Nightmare mentioned that although he resented some of his fellow stars, he didn't say anything because they were, in a way, carrying on his father's legacy.

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Rhodes will also have an opportunity to carry on his father's legacy as he looks to "finish the story" and become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 39.

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