Cody Rhodes On His ‘Full Circle’ Feud With Randy Orton Entering WWE WrestleMania 42: ‘As Real As It Gets’

Cody Rhodes has a lot of history with Randy Orton, who he'll defend his title against in the main event at WrestleMania 42. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images) Getty Images Cody Rhodes is on top of the wrestling world. The 40-year-old enters WrestleMania 42 as the top wrestler in the WWE.

Rhodes is the Undisputed WWE Champion and will main event Wrestlemania for the fourth consecutive year as he faces off with his former stable mate, Randy Orton, in wrestling's biggest event of the year. It's quite the evolution for Rhodes, who was booked mostly as a mid-card and tag team act during his first run with the WWE (2007-2016). Rhodes -- the son of the great Dusty "The American Dream" Rhodes -- has become the face of the post-John Cena era WWE.

After carving out his "American Nightmare" character in the indies and in AEW, Rhodes made his triumphant return to the WWE at WrestleMania 38 in 2022, defeating one of the best wrestlers of this generation, Seth Rollins. Ever since then, Rhodes has been a fixture in the main event scene, feuding and knocking off the likes of Cena, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. For the first time since becoming an established main eventer in the WWE, he'll be feuding with Orton -- his former Legacy stablemate and the man he had his first WWE match with in 2007.

Rhodes faced off against Cena in last year’s WrestleMania main event as the latter chased his world title record 17th championship reign. "Well, it’s full circle in a way," said Rhodes of facing off against Orton in a one-on-one interview. "Last year was similar, whereas I always referred to John Cena a little bit as the angel on my shoulder, and Randy Orton as the devil on the other shoulder.