During an interview with Inside the Ropes, AEW superstar Cody Rhodes revealed a funny story about the 2008 Royal Rumble back at Madison Square Garden, his first-ever. Rhodes talked about how he decided to go after The Undertaker first:

"I see Undertaker in the corner, and I thought, f–k it, I’m gonna do it. I run over and hit this man as hard as I have ever hit anyone and in the back of the head. I felt him stop, head turn, and now i know I am the bad guy. All of a sudden he just goozles me around the neck and I’m thinking I’m going up, and he goes, ‘kick me in the knee’. I kick him in the knee and he goes ‘dropkick me’! I get so excited, I jump up, I dropkick him and he takes a bump! You can see I didn’t know what to do, the goal is to get the guy out of the match but I’m not going to pick him up, so I just stood there and then went into the corner and started fake punching someone (else)."

Rhodes added:

"After that, Taker was God to me. Everything about this guy is about giving back. He really did not need to do that. I love the Undertaker."