Cody Rhodes on His Pitch To Give His Soul To Simone Johnson (Ava) Instead Of The Rock For Storyline Feud

As noted before, the February 21, 2025 episode of WWE SmackDown featured The Rock asking Cody Rhodes to give him his soul and be his personal champion when Rhodes was the Undisputed WWE Champion at the time. Rhodes gave his answer to The Rock at WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 rejecting The Rock’s offer leading to John Cena turning heel by attacking Rhodes and joining The Rock and Travis Scott.

A recent episode of the What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes podcast featured former WWE talent and NXT General Manager Ava, real name Simone Johnson, as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rhodes revealing that he had pitched the idea to give his soul to Simone instead of The Rock.

Cody Rhodes – “When the Final Boss asked me for my soul, I thought, you know what would’ve been funny, is to relent and give my soul, but not to him. This is at a time when you were the NXT General Manager, to you. I thought, ‘That’s got legs. I’ll never say a word again. She’ll speak.”

Simone Johnson – “I think we would’ve crushed that.”

Rhodes – “We would’ve crushed that. People are often like, ‘You don’t want to be a bad guy.’ I’m open to all things. Whatever is the best. I thought that would’ve been a real good spin.”

Johnson – “I would’ve loved to have done that.”

Rhodes – “How would he have felt?”

Johnson – “I think he would’ve been all for it. Absolutely.”

Rhodes – “I can’t believe you never told him.”

Johnson – “I don’t think it ever came up because I think he was beating you up, asking you for your soul. I don’t think I knew he was coming back that day. I had no context of what the promo would be. I just saw it and was like, ‘Soul is crazy.’”

Rhodes – “I think we might have had something. Who knows, we might still have something. I thought it was such a fun spin. My soul goes to you and we would’ve wreaked havoc. Sold out every night. That was our idea. It never happened.”

Johnson – “Who knows, maybe it could still happen. Never say never.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com