MJF and Cody Rhodes had one of the most intense rivalries on AEW during its earlier days. In stark contrast, the story of how they first met is much more lighthearted. The incident involved current WWE star Ethan Page, his sister, and a prank that quickly got out of hand.
At the time, MJF was still a young wrestler trying to make a name for himself on the independent scene, while Rhodes was already an established star. The story took place at an Alpha-1 Wrestling event in Canada.
A backstage rumor caused an unexpected confrontation between MJF and Cody Rhodes
Speaking on Shut Up And Wrestle with Brian R. Solomon, MJF shared a funny story about his first encounter with Rhodes.
According to MJF, Rhodes jokingly told the Alpha-1 Wrestling event promoter, who he hinted may have been Ethan Page, that MJF was trying to flirt with Page’s sister.
“The very first time I met Cody Rhodes was at Alpha-1 in Canada. He had told the promoter, who may or may not be Ethan Page, that I was hitting on his sister. Granted, I wouldn’t put it past me, but I actually wasn’t. The sister of Ethan Page,” MJF said.
The rumor eventually reached Page, who decided to confront him.
“Ethan Page walks up to me and goes, ‘Hey man, are you f*cking hitting on my sister?’ I said, ‘Buddy, if I was, you would know; she’d be my girlfriend by now.’ Then we got into it a little bit and I was just like, ‘Who told you this?’ He goes, ‘Cody told me this.’ I had two options. I could just eat it, which 99.9% of talent in my position at that point at 19 years old who was an absolute f*cking nobody would have done. Or, I could confront this guy, who at the time and also now was a big f*cking deal in the business,” MJF said.
When MJF found out Rhodes had supposedly started the rumor, he decided to address it directly. He went straight into Rhodes’ locker room and demanded an explanation.
“I walked into his locker room; he had his own locker room at this f*cking place. I didn’t knock on the door; I just opened it and I said, ‘Hey.’ He’s looking at me in disbelief. I go, ‘Why the f*ck did you tell the booker I’m trying to bang his sister?’ He was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I go, ‘Dude, please don’t make me bring Ethan down here; he’ll collaborate.’
When MJF threatened to bring Page in to confirm the story, Rhodes burst out laughing. What started as an awkward confrontation turned into a friendly conversation.
“He starts laughing and he goes, ‘Who are you, man?’ Then we just started shooting the sh*t. From that moment on, I could tell he got a kick out of me because, especially on the independent level, was probably not used to people talking like that. He’ll be the first person to tell you, Cody Rhodes loves a good white lie; he says it all the time,” MJF said.
According to Friedman, Rhodes seemed amused by his confidence. Moreover, he liked the fact that he wasn’t afraid to stand up to a bigger name in the business.
A few weeks later, they crossed paths again at a Northeast Wrestling event promoted by Mike Lombardi. By then, Rhodes had noticed that MJF seemed to be appearing on wrestling shows everywhere he went.
Looking back, Friedman credited Rhodes as someone who helped him gain opportunities during his rise through the independent wrestling scene.
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