PHILADELPHIA — Cody Rhodes looked at his mom and remembered where he was one year ago. 

He had just lost the main event of WrestleMania 39. He came back to WWE to finish the story, and with the stars aligned, he failed to achieve what he sought. Rhodes was worried. Worried that was his only shot. He told his mother, “I just want to be quarterback.”

One year later, he’s now the signal-caller for WWE after finishing the story at WrestleMania 40.

Anyone who has followed Rhodes’ story knows how remarkable it was for him to win the title, and the wrestling world will be celebrating it for days – possibly weeks – to come. But bigger picture, Rhodes’ win came at a really precarious time in WWE. 

This was the first WrestleMania under TKO Group Holdings. Most importantly, it was the first WrestleMania not under Vince McMahon’s control. It was uncharted territory for the leader in professional wrestling. 

The wrestling company heavily emphasized during WrestleMania 40 weekend it is a new era of WWE. After this past weekend, it not only is headed toward a positive and exciting new era, but with Rhodes finishing his story in the main event, it now has the perfect person to lead this new regime: “The American Nightmare” and new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. 

“What we do next has to be extremely special,” Rhodes said. “Keeping that going forward, it takes the minds, it takes the locker room, it takes the leaders, it takes the quarterback. And they just made me that. So, we're in.”

Rhodes admitted he’s got a tough act to follow in Roman Reigns, which can pretty much be compared to having to start in the shadow of Tom Brady. But one indicator that Rhodes is on a successful path is the help he got to overcome Reigns, and what happened once he did it.

In the Bloodline rules match where there was no disqualification and Reigns’ group could interfere however it wanted, he got Jey Uso, who was tag team champion with Rhodes, to take out his brother. When Solo Sikoa entered the fold, John Cena returned to help put away a group that terrorized his last return to the company. When “The Final Boss” The Rock came to do what he vowed to ensure, The Undertaker emerged to put a stop to it. 

And when Reigns had a chance to put away Rhodes, Seth Rollins, who came out to the SHIELD entrance music and was in his old gear, kept his word that he was the person to protect Rhodes by taking a chair shot from Reigns – just like what he did to Reigns years ago. 

After Rhodes was victorious, it was the superstars that came out to celebrate with him that cemented him as the new undisputed leader of WWE. It was a sight rarely seen nowadays. Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, LA Knight, and even CM Punk all came to acknowledge their new leader, the truest sign of them trusting him to be just that. It’s one of the best things a new quarterback could have. He's already garnered nearly all of the fan support, but most importantly, he has his teammates' support.

Honoring 'The American Dream'

Rhodes was emotional celebrating his win in the ring, but he got choked up several times during his press conference when talking about his father, the legendary Dusty Rhodes.

Everyone knew this title was for his dad, and there was a special touch to commemorate the occasion. When Rhodes got backstage, he was given a gift by WWE executives. It was a gold watch. The same watch Rhodes’ father pawned so he could go to acting school.

Rhodes has spoken before that his dream was to win the WWE Championship and hand the title to his dad since it was the one thing he never got to hold. When he died in 2015, it was something he deeply regretted he could never do. 

But it was such a major point in Rhodes' journey, people could only help but think his father would be immensely proud of what he did. WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said about Dusty: “I could feel him out there with us.”

Rhodes was asked what he would say if he could speak to his father now as WWE champion, and while it was a touching, emotional thing to say, he did have sense of humor, just like “The American Dream.”

“I want to say to him that I hope I lived up to your name, and thank you for that name,“ Rhodes said. "And then I would say sorry about the tattoo."

Changing the course of WWE

It didn’t take long on night one of WrestleMania 40 to know this wouldn’t be like your typical WrestleMania. WWE’s signature – played before its events – was new and far different from any other iteration. To kick off the show, Levesque set the tone by proclaiming this was a “new era” for WWE. 

In other words, this was Levesque’s first WrestleMania as the one fully in charge. And he succeeded exceptionally. 

For both nights, fans and critics applauded Levesque’s booking and him spearheading how the matches and storylines unfolded. Before, at least some parts of WrestleMania received criticism and pushback from fans. It was hard to find fault with anything at WrestleMania 40. 

As a result, this new era has also been labeled as the “Paul Levesque era.” It started when Paul Heyman said he was a “Paul Levesque guy” during his Hall of Fame speech on Friday, and Stephanie McMahon flat out called it such when she opened up night two.

But Levesque is doing something that no leader in WWE has ever done: he’s not taking the credit.

“The new era, it was talked about it being my era, all that. It’s not my era, it’s our era,” Levesque said. “When I say our, I mean everybody in WWE. The people that endured. The people that hung in there. The people that trusted. The people that over the last year, whatever it's been, gave their sweat and tears to get to where we are. 

“Because somewhere along the way, they trusted a process that led them to remembering how much fun this is, how much of a privilege it is for us to be able to do it. How great this can be.”

Companies love to talk about how much of a “family” and “team” it is. Nearly every one of them, whether true or not, does it. But a moment that may have not have garnered a lot of attention during Levesque’s post-event press conference provided a glimpse that there is at least some truth to what has been preached all weekend.

When talking about trying to be innovative, Levesque said this: “The ideas are coming from everywhere. It's amazing to me to go on the floor in the afternoon, and have people that I've never heard say, ‘Hey, what if we tried this?' and like, alright, let's try it and see where it goes and see what it does. 

“They're coming from everywhere now. We're collaborating with everybody, and to me, that's what's gonna make this special.”

Collaborating? People speaking up? Receiving input? 

This is no longer the same WWE. It’s not just one person deciding what goes on his own accord and not caring what others will think. This is a whole different operation happening, and it’s what the talent have been trying to get across all week.

“I felt the change as soon as I came back from my injury,” said new WWE Women’s Champion Bayley. “The first time at SummerSlam (2022), in that locker room, I felt that it was different. And that was just being in Hunter's presence. I felt everybody was excited for the future and had hope, and I think the fans have been feeling that too.”

As much of a win as this weekend was for WWE, it’s not out of the woods completely. There’s still the fallout and proceedings from the bombshell lawsuit against Vince McMahon. It’s unknown how far the ramifications of it will stretch. If there is more uncovered that involves people still with the company, then it could create another dark cloud for WWE, and those found to be in wrongdoings will need to face the consequences. 

But WWE is headed in the right direction, from a talent and business perspective. The stars can’t stop talking about it and how excited they are for what’s next. The fans are loving what they're hearing. And Levesque promises WWE still has so much more to offer.

“You know what we're doing? Having a (expletive) load of fun,” he said. “As far as innovation goes, I don't even think we've scratched the surface yet.”

Follow Jordan Mendoza on X: @jordan_mendoza5