Hey, everybody, that's the American Nightmare Cody Rosen, and you are listening to the baby Faces on iHeartRadio. Hey guys, this is ww Superstar Timpany Strun and you're listening to the baby Faces on iHeartRadio. What's going on, y'all? Is WWE Superstar Kobe Kingston and you're listening to the Babyfaces on iHeart Radio. Babyaby, you hear that music? That means we are back the baby Faces podcast only on iHeartRadio. Power by ninety seventy five w AMZ.
I'm your host Austin with my co host Billy. He's in rare in studio visit today. Friday Night SmackDown is coming to the KFC Young Center and we have with us none other than I guess we can now call him a friend of the show. Once you're on the show twice, that officially makes you a friend of the show. The Undisputed Chamton, The American Nightmare, Cody Roads. What's up man, Welcome back to Louisville. I'm taking it back by the fact that and thank you, I am a friend of the show.
There you go. That's right. I'm taking it back by the fact that you guys show is named the baby Face. Yes, how long has the baby Face has been around? Oh? Man, what is it about? Three years? Now? Three years? I think we started the after our first review show was right before Wrestlemanei at COVID. Yeah, the COVID year, that's right, they came back. It was in Tampa. That's okay. Yeah, Billy said we should just we love talking wrestling. He
said, dude, we should just start a podcast. And I'm like, well, look at that. And now all these years later we got the WWE Champion Studio. Do you feel that you are babyfaces as people and podcasts? I know Austin is a heel big time, especially on Twitter. Dude, can be this guy. Baby Face is a really tricky term. Well it is nowadays. They were extinct for a while. You know, they
were very endangered for a while. And now it's like a thing where the classic you know you hear all the time, the white Meat, the classic classic baby Face. It's made its way back somehow, someone in the form of Cody Roads, right, I mean, you you are the guy,
right, Like it's kind of my spot, it is. I feel like a little bit of like love to the fact that you call yourself the baby faces because you're both young, and you both more likely would have called yourselves like the heels are like hard way or some sort of inside cut that's not as inside as people. We were kind of thinking this is more on the surface, this is real. There you go. I trust the guy with the baby face's shirt off are more than like some of the names. The
Jobbers podcast podcast is good. That's not bad. That's not too bad. I was gonna do a podcast with Conrad Thompson. We were gonna call it y'all. In this y'all, I went back to to be because I wasn't sure. I was like, maybe I should do this podcast for a while. Yeah, but am Ike in front of you and let you talk. Well, Billy's like, what are you about to turn twenty five? Now? Oh, and give me a little more credit. Twenty seven? Okay, twenty seven. I mean he still has an actual baby. Yeah,
so I think he carries the weight of the of the actual name. But you got everything good happens to you in your thirties. That's what everybody keeps that everything. I'm everything. How old are you? I just turned thirty one? Yeah, prime, Yes, it's birthday week, birthday week, it's going down. Yeah, everything good happens you in your thirties. So if things are going good now they're going pretty well, all that be going even better. That's great. Billy's on the move. Actually it's moving up
to northern Kentucky. Is this last day in Louisville? Somber somber day? How how's that? This is it? Huh? This is pretty much it. Yeah, I'm moving tomorrow, So I am like last night, boxes all over the place, the whole, the whole nine yards. So but just good to take some time, enjoy my birthday a little bit and then
moving tomorrow. So I left Louisville. Uh, I'll never forget from the Charlie's parking lot where I had my friends and at the time the girl I was dating meet me there, and I don't think they were all aware I was moving. I was leaving. Oh and my plan was to never come back, sure, but not in terms of visiting. In terms of I had been there as part of the developmental system. So when you graduate, like you gotta go, you gotta get out. That was a big thing.
My dad told me, He's like, you gotta leave because if you don't leave, you'll be on the show every Wednesday if you don't leave the the you know, and I thought, all right, I gotta leave. Yeah. So you were back in Louisville today at none other than four Street Live, legendary four Street Live. Yes, oh it is changed a little bit. You know. Last time on the podcast he told a little little
fun story about your twenty first birthday here. So you having a little like PTSD being back here, you know, I mean, well, I feel like your podcast is probably safer to discuss that I made. When I first came to w B, I made five hundred dollars a week, which was the lowest you could make in terms of the developmental pay, which I found out later my dad had explicitly told Tommy Dreamer pay him the lowest I can murder it. Yeah, And so I five hundred dollars a week, and
every Wednesday night I spent all five hundred of it at PTS. Y know about PTS, ye oh, boy Sully's, which is no longer around rock Bar PTS. So I was very Uh, I was irresponsible with my funds,
but gosh, a lot of fun, A lot. I wouldn't say PTSD as much as just seeing the logo in the parking deck, because it's really cool to be back here, yes, and it's it's glad to have you back, of course, or old stomping Grounds Ohio Valley Wrestling, like we mentioned in the show, Al snow friend of the show, and I think he's actually doing a comedy bit down in Florida today, so I know that he could make it up for the show. I saw him after a
show some maybe Lexington, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I talked to him afterwards, and it was surreal to talk to him because I was doing the thing I liked to do at the end of the night, which is just sign and take pictures until they literally kicked me out of the building. And that's like a big thing that Al probably taught me that I didn't realize he taught me. So then he was one like waiting to say hello, and I'm having this whole conversation thinking like, oh man, everything you told me
was right. He's so unique as a trainer. You find a lot of people who pretend they weren't trained by Al or act like they didn't love their OVW training, And to me, everything he said was was spot on. Yeah, no doubt. So, like we said Friday Night SmackDown, take it over the Young Center tonight, of course, and you know, you guys are on fire right now. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Ever since you know, the road to WrestleMania was incredible. Now you're
the champion keeping things rolling. We had the AJ styles for fake retirement segment last week. Yeah, what can fans expect at the Youm Center tonight when
you take over the show? Well, I think it's a bit of a homecoming for a couple of us. Randy Orden will be there, another guy who was a forty four hundred Shepherdsville Road well even before that, the old building Randy Ordan, Ray Masterios versus Carlito is a nice advertisement match as well, Bianca bell Air and Jade being president, and I think will follow up obviously, well, obviously we'll follow up on AJ not retiring when we were
absolutely certain he was retiring. And as someone who loves wrestling and studies wrestling and considers himself a historian of wrestling, not sure how I was dumb enough to to take the bait. H But we'll get to the bottom of the y tonight and very much look forward to the Young Center. What a great name for a building. By the way, it's been the YOUM Center for a minute, since the since the beginning. Yeah, keep it, Just
don't don't let KFC like keep it. You know what I'm saying. Like these buildings years later have started, they get some wild names from what you originally remember as well. If it's the Young Center, you're not gonna be able to call it anything else. It's very unique in that right because I'm and it doesn't. I wouldn't say it doesn't sound like intimidating, but it sounds like when you say you're going to the KFC Young Center, people I feel like, no, it's Louisville. Now. Yeah, they just get
like, oh, the Yum Center. They're pleasantly surprised by it. It's it's synonymous with louis I saw a message from it, so somebody emailing our merchandise team. It was a Young Center person, and then I just looked in to check in. There was a merchandise chain and I realized we're doing Louisville Nightmare shirts yeah for tonight that are specific to the YOUM Center. And I thought, oh my okay, look at that. Okay, those are really cool. If they sell, they're hilarious. If they don't, then
you got a lot of a lot of merch. Cody's not over in Louisville. Yeah, yeah, that didn't work, guys. It would be your own people sometimes in Louisville too. That's pretty sad. So that's that's so Atlanta being my hometown. Sometimes you got those Atlanta magical moments like this is my hometown. These are my people another time. Yeah, you guys are the worst. They just give it to I mean, they're just they're just
straight nose with you. I mean, like I said, I always remember watching the OVW, especially the summer Sizzling series used to be at the UH six Flag Super series. Man, that's when they used to bring the w w E talent in to like face the heels, and I certainly remember I tell Billy about this all the time. The Duce and Domino rivalry some of the greatest stuff that I used to watch. Oh Man, Duce and Nomeno. I remember they hit me with the Kindo stick and it broke over my
head. I think, like, oh wow, that was perfect. Oh man. Yeah, Sean Spears, dude, taught me everything. Yeah, led me by the hand, and now he's at n XT doing it for for other people. Gosh, that dude is just a the best, such a good part of my Louisville time. Yes, Shawn Spears was absolutely the dude, and he was your mentor obviously of course mentor. He was you
know, you're probably the actual term you know. Yeah, he had all the talent man stud and another thing that's going on in down and it doesn't seem like you've really shaken the bloodline yet. They are gonna have the stuff with Solo Sakowa. He said, they've got your number. You just don't know it. Yeah, do they just not know that you finally figured them out? Or do you think that they just have more in their pocket. I think what it is is the WW Championship, the one we've got right
here is is really just the north Star for WW. And that has a lot to do with what Roman made it in terms of being this coveted, most most wanted item. That very much the north Star and the center of ww's universe. And I don't say that in a braggadosha sense. Whoever's holding it, that's where you're at. So when you hear your name on the show Solo having my number. Drew McIntyre did a tour of the WWHQ this week and he's talking about how we have unfinished business and yeah, yeah,
I'm of the thought that I have unfinished business with everybody. And Triple H had actually told me as something that I could share as part of press conferences. We were talking about something and he he mentioned to me that I am learning as we go how envious and how a lot of people will want you to have success, but not that much success. So it's a it's a unique position to be an Absolutely, it's no secret here on the baby Faces
we are big Roman reigns guys. Yes, but so the name the Babyfaces is not I know, like I said, Austin is a big time heel, all right, I have to bring him down sometimes sometimes. You know, we were we were there WrestleMania forty when you won the title and still as big Roman rains guys, we were like, this is awesome, right
that it was such a great moment. You have to appreciate it, and and we talked about it last time, and you know, the whole moment and all that, and uh, you know your whole career leading to that point. So I mean, now, how do you follow that up? Right? You had that such that big moment. You can't let the moment outlive the title ran, So how do you feel like you you continue that
moment? I'm here. A big thing for me was I wanted them to reflect a different time for the title and I don't know if the logan one checked that box necessarily, but I can tell you the first AJ match certainly did in terms of what myself as champion would look like. I think a thing to avoid a pitfall is to make the comparisons to what Roman did because it was such a unique time, you know, Roman carrying WB through COVID and having the titles for so many years and all that. For me,
it's all about making it my own thing. And the reality is if Russellmania forty was the peak, then it was a really incredible peak. Yes, but I have a good tendency to see where the puck is going in the industry and I think it only gets better from here. Yeah, I think so too. And like Billy said, WWE's on a roll right now. It's probably one of the hottest it's been. People are debating. Since the Attitude era one of the biggest booms in wrestling, you don't have to debate
it. Yeah, money wise, it is. I know that's like the metric that people don't always love, but all the old timers love that metric. So radio were the same way. Ratings are you know, advertisers doing well. So yeah, that's well, that's exactly how we look at it. And it's awesome to see you kind of spearheading that you're back to Louisville KFC YOUM Center tonight. Tickets are still on sale for as low as twenty
dollars. It's right on ticketmaster dot com. You can get in see the American Nightmare ww un despeeded Champion Cody Roads, see other friends of the show like Austin Theory, Grayson Waller, Jade Cargill. It's it's gonna be an awesome show, Cody. What are you looking forward most when you go out
into the YOUM Center night? There was an energy years ago. I might have mentioned this the last time we talked to Freedom Hall John c C. I think it was two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, and I no joke I can name on you know one hand the amount of arenas and buildings I've been in that have shaken when somebody is entered or when music is played in no matter what the size of the crowd was, just the
acoustics of the crowd as the loudest I had ever heard a crowd. Wow, was that moment, And it was just a great time to say, Hey, I want to be like that. How do I follow that lead? What can I what can I do? How can I have that same title he has? So to be walking in here now with that championship and and just just being aware that a Louisville crowd can do that, Yeah, makes for everybody to be kind of on the edge of their seat, on
their toes about how they're gonna go out and perform and compete. Absolutely, it's going to be a special night at the Yum Center tonight. Like Austin said, tickets still available at ticketmaster dot com. We hope to see out there. We'll also be taken over the Yumpsiner socials all day long. So uh, it's it's gonna be a fun night tonight, a special night at the Yump Center, especially with Cody Roads in town. Cody, thanks so much. For taking the time in and we're excited to see what you got
tonight. Thank you. I feel like we should have taken more time because you guys are actual fans. We could go for hours. Dude, you got a lot, a lot going on. Thank you, guys, Yes, sir, thank you.