The Memphis Grizzlies were the 2-seed in the Western Conference for the second straight year in 2022-23, but once again playoff success eluded them as they were bounced out of the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers. Injuries played a role, as they struggled to handle the size of L.A. without Steven Adams, but they also weren’t able to put enough complete offensive performances as a team. The shooting woes of players not named Desmond Bane were notable, with Dillon Brooks becoming the focal point for many in the series as he failed to back up his talk with high-level play on the court.
Brooks is now gone after landing a big contract in Houston and the Grizzlies focal point this summer was to upgrade that spot in the starting lineup between Ja Morant and Desmond Bane. They did that in a rather surprising manner in the trade market prior to free agency opening, adding Marcus Smart to the roster. That gives them an extremely formidable starting five, but there are at least a few depth questions behind that starting group that will need to be answered as the season goes on. Still, for a team with a clear need to upgrade its playoff rotation, they’ve done that in a big way. Now they’ll just have to navigate Ja Morant’s absence for the first 25 games of the season and try to stay in range until at full strength to try to once again nap a top seed in the West to try out their new postseason roster.
Here we’ll grade out the Grizzlies offseason work thus far in the Draft, free agency and contract extensions, and the trade market.
Draft: B-
While Memphis didn’t have a first round pick in this year’s draft, the team with the best draft record in the NBA recently made a pair of picks in the second round, taking Gregory “G.G.” Jackson from South Carolina at No. 45 overall and Tarik Biberovic from the Turkish League with the 56th pick. Jackson is the most interesting of those two, as a former highly touted recruit that reclassified and is now the youngest player in the NBA. The forward has serious scoring potential but needs considerable refinement, and is expected to be on a two-way that allows him to get considerable G League reps. Jackson is a long-term play on upside, a useful gamble in the second round for a Memphis team that doesn’t need to fill out its immediate roster with young talent, as they have plenty of that.
Free Agency/Contract Extensions: C
The only signing of the summer for the Grizzlies is Derrick Rose, who was not part of the Knicks rotation last year. He won’t be someone they can rely on for real minutes and also isn’t a veteran with significant deep playoff experience they can lean on. For a vet minimum it’s not a damaging signing, but it also isn’t one that moves the needle for a team with the lofty aspirations the Grizzlies have.
Trades: A-
Where the Grizzlies did most of their work this offseason is in the trade market, where they acquired Smart in the reshaped three-team deal between the Wizards and Celtics that saw Tyus Jones get sent to Washington and their 2023 and 2024 first round picks to Boston. Jones was the steady-handed backup for Morant and he’ll be missed, particularly for that first 25 games without Morant when they’ll be a bit thin at point guard. However, Jones was hopeful to eventually get a starting job somewhere (or at least be paid as such) and it was always going to be difficult for Memphis to commit that much money to him — and certainly the role he wanted was never going to be there for him. As such, they move him for the exact kind of veteran they need on this team. Smart has considerable playoff experience, is extremely willing to call folks out for not playing the right way, and is a tone-setter on the defensive end. He will raise their playoff ceiling immediately, can run the point in Morant’s absence, and is a nice fit between Morant and Bane when their All-Star returns from suspension. He will provide, at worst, the same caliber defense as Brooks (some would argue he’s even better on that end) while being a more useful offensive player, even without being a real upgrade as a shooter. Smart is a very good facilitator and knows how to be a connective piece between stars in a way Brooks wasn’t, which should be helpful for a Memphis offense that can get a touch disjointed.
While a pair of first round picks plus Jones seems like a high price, the picks were the No. 25 pick this year and likely a similar pick next year, while Jones may have been on his way out in the near future anyway. The window for Memphis is now, and they needed to add a veteran to this group that would fill that Brooks role and elevate that spot in the starting lineup. Smart fits the bill and is a worthy use of those picks, and now we’ll just wait to see how it all comes together once the Grizzlies are at full strength come December.
With Secret Invasion out of the way, Marvel just dropped the first trailer for Loki Season 2 as the reality-bending series gets ready to bring a barrel of mischief to Disney+ in October.
Returning to the title role, Tom Hiddleston joins Owen Wilson for another round of buddy cop adventures through time as they attempt to undo the damage, and looming threat, of the climactic Season 1 finale that saw Sylvie (Sophie Di Martino) murder He Who Remains, a variant of the time-conquering villian Kang played by Jonathan Majors. Judging by the trailer, which features Ke Huy Quan making his Marvel debut, Loki will have his work cut out for him as Sylvie’s choice has created unfathomable chaos across the multiverse.
Ahead of the release, Marvel also dropped two posters touting Loki Season 2, which you can see below:
Loki Season 2 picks up in the aftermath of the shocking season finale when Loki finds himself in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority. Along with Mobius, Hunter B-15 and a team of new and returning characters, Loki navigates an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous multiverse in search of Sylvie, Judge Renslayer, Miss Minutes and the truth of what it means to possess free will and glorious purpose.
Rap’s current sample-mania phase has produced some duds and some jams, but it has also seen some minor controversy as rappers go after the same sample. This turned out to be the case with one of rap’s early modern it-girls, Saweetie, and the godmother of the present generation, Nicki Minaj, when both employed the same sample of Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl.”
Saweetie, who first teased her version, “Icy Girl, Icy World,” during an Instagram Live stream, found herself getting scooped when Nicki teamed up with rap’s latest it-girl Ice Spice for “Barbie World,” which wound up getting placed on the soundtrack for the Barbie movie. The controversy deepened when Jason Martin (formerly known as Problem) revealed that Saweetie’s version was initially sent to Nicki, who turned it down only to pop up on the soundtrack later with a different co-star.
Now, Saweetie herself has chimed in on the dust-up, telling Power 106 Los Angeles’ Justin Credible that she still intends to release her version, despite everything. In the interview, she points out that what happened isn’t uncommon in the recording industry, as songs often pass through several hands before being released, and sometimes, the original artist can get lost in the shuffle.
She’s unbothered, though, saying, “I love to inspire, that’s my purpose here, and they look bomb as f*ck in the video. So it’s just like ‘Okay, bitch, I see you!’ Mine still coming out though. Stay tuned. I’m saving it for a very special moment.” She also told Justin Credible that she’s changing the title of her long-awaited debut album after realizing that Pretty Bitch Music is her “movement” (also, probably not as marketable as any of the other branding she’s come up with over the past five years).
In the meantime, Saweetie, who just released a double single for her birthday consisting of “Birthday” and “Shot O’ Clock” (which, funnily enough, is also based on a popular ’90s hit, the DNA remix of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner”), is gearing up for a tour with her new boo, YG, and Tyga as the two Compton rappers promote their upcoming joint project.
Watch Saweetie’s interview with Power 106 above.
Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Billie Eilish and Finneas ended this past weekend in much higher spirits than the previous. One week ago, the siblings-turned-collaborators shared heartbreaking Instagram posts to mourn the death of their family dog, Pepper. But this Sunday, July 30, marked two significant birthdays in their lives.
The first and most obvious: Finneas turned 26 years old.
“My best friend forever,” Eilish captioned an Instagram photo of her big brother smiling at her as a newborn. “Will never love anyone as much as I love you @finneas happy birthday you are the best thing I have.”
Eilish posted a video to her Instagram Story showing her and Finneas talking through the lyrics of Lana Del Rey’s “Off To The Races.” Finneas (somehow) thought that Del Rey sang “Trapdoor mama” instead of “Chateau Marmont,” causing Eilish to burst out in giggles. “hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha @finneas happy birthday I love every second I get to spend with you,” she wrote atop the video.
Claudia Sulewski, Finneas’ girlfriend, celebrated by captioning an Instagram carousel, “one year closer to fathering my children. huge. painfully in love with you. happy birthday my [light blue heart emoji] @finneas”
Eilish also used her Instagram Story to acknowledge the second birthday of her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, writing, “two years since HTE [three holding-back-tears emojis] love you all so dearly.”
Whether he’s playing Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, Arthur Fleck in Joker, or Napoleon Bonaparte in Napoleon, actor Joaquin Phoenix has a type. “He is the best player of damaged goods,” director Ridley Scott praised him in an interview with Empire. The pair, who worked together on Best Picture winner Gladiator, have reunited for the historical drama about the emperor of French.
They had other opportunities to collaborate in the 20-plus years between projects, but nothing felt right.
“I had such an incredible experience working with Ridley on Gladiator, and I was so young. It was my first big production. I really yearned for that experience again, or something similar,” Phoenix said. “He’s approached me about other things in the past, but nothing that felt like it would be as demanding for both of us. And so I really liked the idea of jumping into something with Ridley that was going to be that.”
Here’s more on Napoleon:
Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix. Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.
Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw Travis Scott drop perhaps the year’s most anticipated project and Post Malone come through with a pivot of an album. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Travis Scott — “Delresto (Echoes)” Feat. Beyoncé and Bon Iver
A number of music legends have emerged from Texas over the past few decades, and a couple of them teamed up last week: Travis Scott finally dropped Utopia and one of the guests joining him in that perfect world was Beyoncé, who highlighted “Delresto (Echoes)” (as did Bon Iver, by the way).
Post Malone — “Too Cool To Die”
While Posty has so far gotten by on pop-rap, he gets into more of a singer-songwriter mode on his fifth album, Austin. He reflects on mortality on “Too Cool To Die,” singing, “I’m not here for long, my baby / I’m just passin’ by / The world keeps gettin’ hotter, baby / But I’m too cool to die.”
Offset and Cardi B — “Jealousy”
The past month introduced a bit of drama in the world of Offset and Cardi B: Some though Offset accused Cardi of cheating, and the two referenced the situation on a new song, “Jealousy.” Cardi insisted, by the way, that the drama wasn’t a clever ploy to drum up interest in the song (although it certainly did do that).
Flo Milli — “Fruit Loop”
Flo Milli serves a serving that’s part of a complete breakfast on “Fruit Loop,” which contains plenty of references to sugar-sweet cereals and treats. Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez notes that on the track, “Flo delivers rhymes that are both hard and humorous, as she rides a fast-paced beat with pure ease.”
Burna Boy — “Big 7”
Burna Boy has become an absolute star over the past few years, and he’ll continue to tell his story with I Told Them…, a new album set for this summer. He continued the album rollout last week with “Big 7,” a celebratory new tune that kicks off with a tribute to the late Virgil Abloh.
Saweetie, YG, and Tyga — “Birthday”
Saweetie turned 30 at the start of the month, and now she’s celebrating entering a new decade with “Birthday.” YG and Tyga join her on the track, and on it, Saweetie treats herself, rapping, “Goin’ live on my birthday / Spend a hundred racks on a new chain / B*tches goin’ dumb, we goin’ insane / You can race with us, but it ain’t safe.”
Calvin Harris and Sam Smith — “Desire”
Smith and Harris know their way around a banger: their 2018 single “Promises” was a chart-topper in their native UK. The winning pair reunited for “Desire,” another summer scorcher that sees the pair, as they have before, dominate the dancefloor with a kinetic party soundtrack.
James Blake — “Loading”
James Blake has a new album, Playing Robots Into Heaven, dropping this fall and he continued the rollout this week with “Loading.” If it’s indicative of the forthcoming album’s sound, then we’re looking at an LP full of tender vocals and dense electronic instrumentals.
Mitski — “Bug Like An Angel”
Mitski fans have been eating: Last year’s Laurel Hell arrived nearly four years after Mitski’s previous album, but she already has another one, The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We, set to drop in a few months. She shared the dark and reflective single “Bug Like An Angel,” on which she sings, “Did you go and make promises you can’t keep? / Well, when you break them / They break you right back / Amateur mistake / You can take it from me / They break you right back.”
Gucci Mane — “Woppenheimer”
Gucci wins the award for the week’s most fun musical release: Upon the release of the Oppenheimer movie, a meme of a fake Gucci song named “Woppenheimer” blew up online. So, Gucci actually released a song with that name and even used the original fan-made cover art for the single. This is what the internet is for.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Cardi B made headlines this weekend in Las Vegas when she threw a microphone at a fan while on stage. It turns out, though, that wasn’t even the only mic she threw while in Sin City.
On Friday (July 28), Cardi performed at Drai’s Nightclub, as HipHopDX notes. As she finished a rendition of “I Like It,” she turned and launched her microphone towards the DJ booth, as seen in a fan-shot video shared on TikTok. It’s not clear why she threw the mic, but one comment on the TikTok post notes, “Dj keeps cutting her tracks multiple times,” while another reads, “the djs be thinking it’s they performance [crying laughing emoji] this his second time doing that to her.”
As for the other microphone-throwing moment, that came the next day at an outdoor daytime performance at Drai’s Nightclub. A fan splashed Cardi with a drink, so the rapper retaliated by throwing the microphone at them. A number of people thought Cardi was justified in her actions, with one person tweeting, “Even Adele said you throwing stuff at her, she would be throwing hands. Why are people thinking this is an acceptable thing to do. I don’t condone violence but come on now some people gonna react like Miss Cardi, don’t be shook when you acted first.”
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It was Steven Adams’ birthday and Santi Aldama wanted to give him ham. A cake, obviously, would have been the more traditional thing, but it’s not every day a group of 23 pro basketball players gather together in a gym that looks like a futuristic UFO hangar, owned by Jose Calderon, overlooking the Alboran Sea. This had to be special.
The occasion — beyond Adams’ birthday — is a performance retreat called The Sanctuary. Now in its second year, the part training session, part cultural encounter is a three-day event put on by the NBPA, who fondly refer to it as a kind of hybridized “performance box”.
“This is not a camp,” Matteo Zuretti, the NBPA’s Chief of International Relations and Marketing, stresses to Dime, on a call from The Sanctuary, “We don’t program it. We give them a box, and they put whatever they want inside.”
Zuretti, one of the minds behind The Sanctuary and its programming, is originally from Rome but now based in New York City for his job with the Player’s Association. In the NBA offseason, Zuretti would hear from international players who wanted to spend the summers at home, but felt like they were missing out on something when their American teammates shared videos and photos of themselves participating in summer camps and training runs. Zuretti, with a foot in Europe and the States, had a personal understanding of that gap.
“It’s hard to find similar conditions that the guys have in the U.S. elsewhere in the world,” Zuretti says, “I said, let’s take the conditions the guys have in L.A., Miami, Atlanta, and bring it in a beautiful place abroad.”
Enter Calderon, who was in the process of transitioning out of his role in the league to manage a state-of-the-art basketball facility in Marbella, a small seaside city a stone’s throw from the bustling hub of Malaga. Zuretti reached out to Calderon with the idea, and the inaugural Sanctuary was launched in the summer of 2022. Last year, 14 players attended. This year that nearly doubled, including some Sanctuary alumni like Mason Plumlee, Immanuel Quickley, and Jaylen Brown (who had some Boston media complaining that his involvement in the program was holding up sealing the deal on his now historic contract extension).
“I think there’s something to be said for a place to go and be away and focus,” Plumlee told Dime, when asked what made him want to take time out of his summer to return to the program. “To me, what they’ve set up here is really unique. I’m not familiar with anything else like it. It just allows you to enjoy the game, be in the gym, and they make everything around it easy.”
That sense of ease was a crucial aspect Zuretti and the NBPA hoped to cultivate through The Sanctuary and its offerings. NBA athletes account for a very small group of people that are nevertheless accustomed to being “bombarded by the best of the best at every level of their life,” Zuretti said. Part of how The Sanctuary hopes to entice players to return or try it out are a curated selection of “high touch” experiences, be that access to private yachts in the Marbella harbour, rounds of golf at some of the beautiful nearby courses, or planned excursions to explore the culture of the Iberian region. Another way is through the most reliable resource the NBPA has: reviews to members from other members.
“Doesn’t matter that they’re members and they trust our union, you need to build a compelling thing. And sometimes the compelling angle is guaranteed by advocates who came before, kind of the trail blazers who say ‘Oh, let me try it.’ I’m more curious than anybody else, I want to travel the world,” Zuretti says of how crucial word of mouth has been in growing the program. “There are players that are just more inclined, and are more educated global citizens, and we really leverage them to be the advocates in the locker room that can talk about this experience and kind of be the stamp of approval.”
“Personally, I just love to travel. So any reason to go and see the world, I’m always about it,” Plumlee chuckles when asked about his own impetus to return. But he’s practical, too. “Some of my teammates from Charlotte came this year, and I’m always encouraging guys to come out because it makes for better pick up games.”
Beyond the floor, one of the big additions to this summer’s Sanctuary programming was the addition of The Summit, a speaker series featuring a mix of executives, investors, leaders in sports science, plus athletes from other leagues, like Ndamukong Suh, and former NBA players Andre Igoudala and Evan Turner, who did a live session of their Point Forward podcast with Sanctuary attendees, Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell.
NBPA
Plumlee, who’s had a fulsome NBA career and just signed a new one-year deal to stay on with the Clippers, finds something like The Sanctuary valuable on multiple fronts. Beyond the travel aspect, he’s liked learning about “what’s the latest and greatest” technology in health, wellness, and injury prevention. Especially things that don’t “always translate to the locker room or your season routine” like cryochambers and meditation floating beds that use “water without getting wet”. It’s also a place where, outside of the hectic 82-game season and postseason beyond, he can catch up with friends around the league.
“You know how it is, the NBA is small, but to get a chance to connect with some of those guys is really fun,” Plumlee says. “As you’re older in the league — like I got to play with Donovan Mitchell in the World Cup, it’s great to see him here. Nick Richards, I even saw Evan Turner here who’s doing his podcast, he was a teammate in Portland.”
For Zuretti, keeping that sense of brotherhood central in who was invited to take part in The Sanctuary’s second year was all-important. The NBPA is, after all, a working union. The Sanctuary’s programming, robust and thoughtful as it is, could never really compare to the vacations or offseason activities players could have on their own time, with their own earnings. What it’s meant to do is instil a sense of togetherness, or a connection to the larger whole of the Player’s Association. It’s why the attendee mix, while balanced, skews young, because those are the people the NBPA wants invested to keep itself a strong, viable and well-informed organization.
“Historically, the general image of the union is one that’s going to help and support the guys transitioning, the guys who are in trouble,” Zuretti says. “Here, we want to get the young guys closer to us. Forty percent of the players who are participating in our programs are under 25 years old.”
“In the end, we’re in the business of creating leaders,” he continues. “Leaders who can be at the CBA table, that can help us figure out what data ownership means, or what their needs are in the offseason. We represent the collective. And we also recognize this is not a monolith. There are different facets of life. And when we build community and have these crossovers, it’s fantastic.”
Moreover, as the NBA continues to stress growth on a global scale as one of the league’s main economic drivers, it becomes all the more important for an organization like the NBPA to expose its members — some who’ve never travelled outside the U.S. before — to the wider world. For professional preparation through exposure as much as for personal growth.
Which is why the ham that Aldama presented Adams, an entire leg of cured jamón ibérico, a specialty of the region that looked giant even as Adams hoisted it up in the air, was so important. Aldama grew up in Las Palmas, a city not within the Iberian Peninsula but on the Canary Islands, a chain closer to south-western Morocco than Spain but whose residents count themselves as fiercely Spanish. Adams is a proud New Zealander. The two journeyed halfway around the world to eventually become teammates in Memphis and now, Aldama wanted to welcome Adams to where it was he came from.
“We could’ve given him a cake but we said, No! Let’s give him a jamon,” Zuretti laughs. “These cultural nuances are what drives us, drives the guys. We really want to help them become global citizens, and that’s a great example of friendship, brotherhood and the joy to share their own culture with each other.”
At the end of the day, no matter the sleek facilities or the bespoke experiences on offer, the “performance box” The Sanctuary offers provides a rarer thing. It allows a quiet enclave outside of the churning world of the game, or even the cascade of catching up on social obligations and celebrations in an athlete’s offseason. A place to slow down, palm a basketball, or eat jamon right off the leg with a bunch of the biggest guys you know.
Even still, Scott assured fans the following day that a Utopia performance at the Pyramids “will happen” at some point, “but due to demand and detail logistics, they just need a bit a time to set lay on lands. I will keep u posted on a date which will be soon love you alllll.”
It appears that some fans were unwilling to wait another second, as unconfirmed video circulating on Twitter over the weekend showed a group of Scott fans jumping around and singing — “singing” in its loosest application — along to “No Bystanders” from Scott’s 2018 Astroworld album.
A Travis Scott fan page reposted the video with the tweet, “THREW A PARTY AT THE PYRAMIDS.” The account separately promoted an event called “Futbol At The Pyramids” in Giza, Egypt for Friday night (July 28).
All Cody Rhodes was looking for was closure. It had been six years since Rhodes left WWE to pave a trail all on his own, rebranding himself as the American Nightmare, becoming one of the hottest acts on the independent scene, and working in tandem with the Young Bucks to eventually launch All Elite Wrestling.
But Bruce Pritchard, Vince McMahon, and WWE knew they had a chance to bring Rhodes home. Working without a contract in AEW, Rhodes agreed to meet Pritchard and McMahon, who were on a flight the next day to see if they could convince him to return.
“Here’s a guy (Vince) who helped raise me, in an entertainment sense, two guys (Vince and Bruce). And hey, you did a good job, guys. You really did. I’m here. I got this going on. I got that going on. Thank you. And I’m sorry how I left. I’m not sorry completely for how I left, but there (were) things I did that I hope you understand why I did them. It was all on the table. Stardust, everything was discussed,” Rhodes told Uproxx Sports at a screening event for Peacock’s American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes documentary.
Rhodes says the meeting didn’t actually feel like a meeting though. They spoke about his family. Vince spoke lovingly about his daughter, what she means to him. And at the end, they asked if he was interested in wrestling Seth Rollins at WrestleMania and coming back to the WWE.
Rhodes path to WWE the first time — and eventually back — is covered in detail throughout the documentary, which airs on July 31 on Peacock. It’s an interesting position to be in for Rhodes, who has spent so much of his life being drawn back to his father’s legacy.
“In my mind, I still feel like I’m 20 years old, pulling up to 4400 Shepherdsville Road, going to go into OVW to introduce myself,” Rhodes says. “I was a producer on my dad’s documentary, and it’s funny what a creator, a director, Matt Braine being mine, the things they’ll center on, the things they’ll focus on. It may not be the thing you thought.”
One of the things that impressed Rhodes in working with Braine and WWE’s Senior Vice President & Executive Producer of Documentaries, Ben Houser, was the choices they made on what was important in documenting his story.
“There’s plenty of things that have gone wrong and bad and there’s a negativity to how I left and the things I did,” Rhodes continues. “But to not trip over anything that’s behind us. And that, I really liked as far as watching it. There’s darkness for sure in a documentary that covers the path I’ve been on.”
The common thread the documentary portrays is Rhodes’ lifelong dream to hold the one championship his father held briefly at Madison Square Garden, but never actually won. Winning that belt was one of his very first goals in life. He recalls telling Dusty of ambitions to give him the belt and that this time, no one could take it away from him.
The story takes viewers through Rhodes’ journey in high school wrestling, his relationship with Dusty, and the path he carved along the way, deviating from his father’s footsteps. He shared the challenges of hitting a glass ceiling within WWE, the organization’s refusal in allowing him to shed the Stardust gimmick, and what led to him hitting the independent scene.
Mixed in are his independent bookings, Rhodes’ matches against Kurt Angle, and how his appearance in New Japan Pro Wrestling was the lightbulb moment that blended his past experiences as ‘Dashing’ Cody Rhodes, Stardust, and eventually the American Nightmare.
There’s a surprising amount of Being The Elite and All In footage, which he says the Young Bucks signed off on. He also briefly touches on his decision to leave AEW, which he says didn’t have anything to do with money or a problem with talent.
“It’s like I knew I’d be back,” Rhodes says about returning to WWE. “When we did All In, I remember telling them I want to have signs backstage to tell you where the rooms are, and I want to have catering, and we’re going over all this. I wanted to replicate a WWE event, or at least the production side of it. Maybe had I looked further in at that point, I would have realized that I was starting on a path even then to getting back.”
When Rhodes returned to WWE, maintaining the gimmick he’d created wasn’t in question — he had trademarked everything and has the tattoo of his logo prominently placed on his neck. The only question was which music he’d use.
“The music, it wasn’t that there was any pushback, as much as it was, what does it matter? We make great music here too, and really they do,” Rhodes says. “I’ve heard a song that was a version for me here. That was an area where I was adamant, and Kevin Dunn was very generous in that he allowed that to be the case. Now I couldn’t think of the bit without it. There’s some fans who are absolutely on board and they know every part of this movie you’re going to see. And then there’s other fans who know, this is where we go, ‘whoa,’ at the show and that may be their only thing. What we’ve discovered was this rallying cry against WWE, which is what the song is, is very catchy. That was an area where I knew it was important enough to fight for it.”
When the lights went out as Seth Rollins stood in the ring at WrestleMania 38, Rhodes wasn’t sure what the reaction would be. He’d had a split crowd for much of his time in AEW, but this felt like a homecoming of sorts.
“I never underestimate our fans” Rhodes continues. “My feeling was genuinely, they get it. They get this real moment in time. They get the purpose. I didn’t even need to tell them two nights later about the title. They got it. And that was so touching.”
The documentary covers the ups and downs that have continued to follow Rhodes since his return, including how he tore his pectoral muscle, competing at Hell in a Cell with the injury, and his build to headlining WrestleMania 39 against Roman Reigns.
After losing to Reigns at WrestleMania, Rhodes has been clear that finishing the story only applies to winning the WWE Undisputed championship. It’s an honor that’s bolstered by Reigns’ historic run at the top.
“I think whoever is in the position who pins Roman Reigns and leaves with the WWE Undisputed championship, it’s almost a moment that I can’t tell you how that will feel or I can’t tell you how that will look until we see it, because I think it’s just starting to dawn on people how significant it could be,” Rhodes says.
“If that is Jey Uso, hats off to him, amazing. Not a shred of jealousy in my body. That is as pure and good a man as you can find. If it ended up a situation where I was able to get back and it was me, I wouldn’t be prepared for that onslaught of feeling. Because fans, we feel. I’m a fan as well, so when I’m watching him and this unbelievable reign that he’s put down, it’s like this conqueror of old. It’s now a time period. Roman has a timeline, essentially. This is the Roman era because of how long he’s held on to these things. It will be very significant and, gosh, the man who does it. That man is a special, special person in the record books.”
Despite not winning the belt, Rhodes has been blown away by the investment fans have in him “finishing the story.”
“If I knew (how to keep fans this invested), I would bottle it up, put a label on it and sell it. It’s almost a game of other people thinking, ‘Oh, there’s no way it’s going to get any hotter. There’s no way the moment’s going to stay right how it is now.’ And we’ve just been blessed that it’s gotten bigger,” Rhodes says.
“I dropped the ball in front of them at WrestleMania, but something about it they liked, or something about it spoke to them, or stoked a fire, and it’s almost scary, it’s fragile. As much as I want to appear strong, and be confident and all that stuff, I can’t take it for granted. Any minute now, it could go away. I want to keep it going as long as possible in a way that the transaction with fans is purely genuine. And I’m lucky that that’s been the case.”
That reaction continued on what Rhodes calls his first real homecoming in a return to Atlanta on July 17.
“I’ve had shows in Atlanta that were special when you hear the announcer say, ‘From Atlanta, Georgia,’ or ‘From Marietta, Georgia.’ And, the cool thing about (Raw in Atlanta) was Samantha Irvin, the ring announcer, didn’t do that. It was just already in the air, it was already known,” Rhodes continues. “For sports entertainment, or for wrestling to be sold out and be on this path, people are just really enjoying the story and they’re coming out for this person and that person and they’ve got all kinds of things they like. But it felt like the first true homecoming I’ve had in Atlanta, and no disrespect to other shows I did in Atlanta. (Raw) felt like the first true homecoming I’ve had in my own city. And that’s after having wrestled now for essentially 18 years on television, so it’s a long time coming.”
Rhodes’ journey will continue up through SummerSlam, where he’s slated to face off against Brock Lesnar, presumably through the winter, and then we’ll see where the American Nightmare lands. If he’s in title contention around WrestleMania season, maybe that’s when he finishes the story.
And if so, what happens then?
“That’s the scariest question,” Rhodes says. “The best thing I could do if I finish the story is start a brand new one right then and right there. That’s what Roman did, especially in the WrestleMania main event, there’s some disappointment. To be honest, there’s a lot of disappointment from him in terms of what happened. And now he’s made it clear we’re in this Roman era. I’d like to start a brand new path if that day came. So when the story closes here, a whole new story opens up.”
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