Cody Rhodes has made it very clear in no uncertain terms that he is not okay with fans referring to WWE as “The Fed.”
“If somebody hits me with ‘The Fed,’ I’m blanked out already,” The American Nightmare said while speaking with AJ Styles on the latest episode of his What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast.
The Fed is frequently used to refer to the promotion by members of the internet wrestling community, and it dates back to when WWE was known as World Wrestling Federation (WWF). These days, the term
is often used as a pejorative when fans are criticizing WWE.
Rhodes got around to sharing his take on the usage of The Fed after he asked Styles about any bad advice he received early in his wrestling career.
Styles began by speaking about the once-common practice of using “little” or limp handshakes with other wrestlers in locker rooms. He said that when he met Terry Taylor in WCW, the veteran gave him a full handshake.
When AJ reverted to a full handshake with an “individual that was respected somewhat on the indies,” that person tried to correct him to encourage the little handshake until he was informed of the Taylor anecdote.
Cody then related that his father, the late icon Dusty Rhodes, had told him to use a normal handshake.
“I asked my dad when I was in high school, ’cause I was going to some indie shows with him,” Cody shared. “I said, ‘How am I supposed to shake hands?’ He’s like, ‘I taught you how to shake hands when you were seven. What are you asking me?’ ‘Oh, it’s the same?’ ‘Yeah, it’s the same.’ And I thought, ‘Okay, got that.’”
“This has been a big discussion about etiquette, paying dues, and that old-school…I don’t know where this really came from, but I’ve had a couple of really old guys make the joke, ‘Oh, now I know you’re stiff,’” Rhodes said about handshakes. “But I don’t know any wrestler that I’ve really respected, and I respect like every wrestler, but I can’t recall one that did that, that was one of my people, or someone I was working, or someone I was going to learn from. So it felt like it’s this thing that got stuck with…”
Cody then shifted somewhat by asking Styles: “You know how people say, ‘New York’? Jokingly be like, ‘Oh, he went to New York.’ When I hear that, I know you don’t know anything about the modern world.”
“New York” is another old-school phrase used to refer to WWE, since New York City (especially Madison Square Garden) was long seen as the home base for the promotion, even if its physical headquarters are in nearby Stamford, Connecticut.
“It feels like it’s this old thing that the indies kept, that no longer is how we say things anymore, or ‘The Fed.’ If somebody hits me with ‘The Fed,’ I’m blanked out already. Where’d you hear this from? It feels passed down in the wrong way, if that makes sense.”
“No, and I agree,” Styles replied. “There’s a lot of things passed down the wrong way, especially on the indies. It’s changed. It’s not the same. It’s not what you think.”
How do you feel about Cody’s take on “The Fed,” handshakes, etc.? Let us know in the comments.
