While speaking on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes opened up about the constant debate in professional wrestling over whether it is more enjoyable to portray a heel or a babyface. Rather than choosing the more common answer, Rhodes offered a thoughtful take on the value of being the hero in the eyes of the fans.

“Everyone’s going to tell you ‘bad guy,’ but I think that’s because they haven’t experienced what a good guy can really be. Bad guy is fun , you can fall on your face and make a spot out of it. You can stumble on your words in a promo and make a moment out of it. Traditionally, the bad guy leads the match. So yeah, bad guy is fun. But a good guy , or good girl , that fans are truly invested in? That they came to see, wearing your shirt, holding your sign? That’s special.”

Rhodes addressed speculation about a potential heel turn, saying he does not see himself switching roles anytime soon.

“There’s always this argument: ‘Oh, Cody should turn heel. Will he turn?’ I don’t think so. They can boo all they want. If certain people decide, ‘Yeah, Cody’s a heel to me,’ that’s fine. But I don’t think I’d ever turn, because there’s just too much of a connection with the people who were on board with me from the beginning.”

He also spoke about the challenges of maintaining babyface status in modern wrestling, where villains often dominate online engagement.

“Every heel out there now has the best social media, the best one-liners, and most babyfaces are left standing there like, ‘Well… what do I do?’ To be a really good babyface, you have to rise above all of that , and that’s very hard. Jey Uso is a great example. He’s so, so popular. But it’s not easy. It’s not easy to make that connection with the audience , and it’s even harder to keep it. Babyfaces get beat up a lot on TV. To me, it’s such a gift.”