Robin Moon
This week’s recommendation is for the What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast with WWE superstar Cody Rhodes. Now, I’d like to preface this by saying first and foremost: I’m not a podcast guy. It’s a medium I’ve always struggled to get into due to the solely audio nature of it. Over the years, I’ve made a few attempts with podcasts, and recently I thought it was time to try again—I don’t want to miss out on something I might enjoy! Due to my love of wrestling, I thought I’d give What Do You Wanna Talk About? a go.
There are many, many wrestling podcasts out there with various industry hosts, but Cody Rhodes’ is amongst the most recent. With a career spanning nearly two decades now, he has extensive experience and knowledge of the wrestling industry that is fascinating to hear. Admittedly, I’m extremely biased since he’s one of my favourite wrestlers (if not my absolute favourite, he’s my guy), so I’m naturally going to enjoy hearing so much from him. But even from a podcast-hosting standpoint, he always poses interesting questions that are specific to his guests, allows them to have the space to elaborate and share however much about themselves they’re comfortable with, and sprinkles in many personal opinions that make you feel like you’re getting a real insight into his experience, without being overbearing or intrusive. One section that is always fun to hear differing answers to is the “who is your dream team” question Rhodes poses in every episode; even more so that he himself gives different answers every time. Also, he’s hilarious in an unexplainably subtle and dorky way that I love. His now-infamous “Cody lies” bring both charming storytelling and amusing banter to the episodes.
So far, there have been a range of guests, from classic wrestlers like the Undertaker, to people from entirely different industries who have recently broken into wrestling like Jelly Roll. My personal favourite episodes are ones in which Rhodes is evidently good friends with the guest, such as Jey Uso or Matt Cardona. I love a good goof around, and it’s nice to witness someone let a little looser when they’re comfortable around a friend. It helps that cocktails are flowing during the filming, of course—maybe one day we’ll see the unreleased episodes with Alexa Bliss and Big E where they apparently got a bit too drunk! Episodes with Becky Lynch and Kevin Owens are another two faves of mine, with the former being delightfully funny and the latter calling Rhodes out on his BS every two seconds.
I’d say my main takeaway from What Do You Wanna Talk About? is that there’s just buckets of passion in it. Passion for wrestling, passion for the people in it, passion for the stories that come from it. The fact that I’ve so far stuck with this podcast when they aren’t usually my thing is a testament to Rhodes’ entertaining hosting and compelling conversations with guests. If you’re a wrestling fan, or just love some good storytelling, I’d highly recommend it!
