Cody Rhodes has admitted he’s “very open” to turning heel in WWE, whilst also addressing a potential union between he and Paul Heyman.

As with other popular babyface WWE stars of the past such as John Cena, Cody Rhodes has found himself become the subject of more and more boos from the crowd as his time at the top of the mountain has gone on.

Like Cena during his peak, fans have called on WWE to turn Rhodes heel, and there has been evidence that he may getting more of an edge to his character lately; most notably with his decision to finally punt kick his mentor Randy Orton in the head at Crown Jewel.

Along with a heel turn, fans have also questioned whether Paul Heyman could potentially align himself with “The American Nightmare.” Rhodes even dropped a subtle hint at this possibility when he repeated Heyman’s famous “that’s not a prediction, it’s a spoiler” catchphrase during a promo exchange with Orton from the August 21 episode of SmackDown (see below).

Speaking with Unsportsmanlike, Rhodes said the following after being asked about a potential heel partnership with Heyman:

“Very interesting. I have a unique relationship with Mr. Heyman because of his relationship with my dad and he actually just came on my podcast (What Do You Wanna Talk About?) – it’s gonna air I think the week after Thanksgiving – but there’s more exposition in that because people ask me all the time why we get along. He has a really unique relationship in sports entertainment and pro wrestling, and in the pod we talked about why that is and there’s a sense of loyalty.”

Rhodes would then discuss his openness to a heel turn, even admitting that he thought he was going to get booed during his promo on the November 9 episode of Raw when he said that he “loved” punting Randy Orton in the head:

“I’m really open (to a heel turn)– that’s the biggest thing I tell people all the time with you’re gonna make that shift and you’re gonna go heel or you stay babyface whatever it is – whatever’s best for WWE. But we are starting to get into an area where if you think I’m a heel, I’m already a heel. I’m not trying to make it so you can’t get what you want but if you think I’m a heel I might already be a heel because we have a whole other side of it that doesn’t think that.

“Prime example, I went out there the other night and I said ‘I loved punting Randy Orton, I loved it.’ And I tried to put a little growl in it, ‘I loved it.’ And they just cheered, and I thought ‘Oh, I thought they were gonna boo.’ That’s the beautiful thing about our fans, there’s no wrong way to be a fan. You can’t guess which direction.”

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While he’s open to a heel turn, Rhodes explained why it would probably “look different” than people expect it would:

“To hit it on the head more specifically if someone like Heyman or someone else, me as a heel would take a lot away from what I currently do and it would probably add in its own way. I think it looks different than people think.

“Here I am very worried about this Team Mexico and Team USA and the diplomacy involved, I don’t know if a bad version of me would be as worried. In 2026 going on 2027, a lot of outrage, a lot of cancellations. Heel Cody I don’t think makes it on Unsportsmanlike. Everyone’s got that in them, and then you start saying some of the things you think out loud and it’s like ‘Oh, that’s not good.’

“I’m very open to it, I think everybody in creative, Triple H is the one guiding the ship here, I think when it’s time, we won’t miss an opportunity. But if it’s never time, I’m sorry.”

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While he played a heel at points during his time on the independent scene in the late 2010s, it has been a decade since Rhodes was a traditional bad guy in a major wrestling company – spending the entirety of this second WWE run, as well as his time in AEW as a babyface.

The Rock famously wanted Rhodes to turn heel and align with him in early 2025, but Rhodes reportedly refused, leading to John Cena turning instead at Elimination Chamber 2025.