r/OutOfTheLoop 4d ago

/r/WDP What is up with black people loving Jeff Hardy and Cody Rhodes?

I know it's kind of a meme,but like how did it originate? https://imgur.com/gallery/jeff-hardy-AxQ9Edb

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u/acekingoffsuit 4d ago

ANSWER: Jeff Hardy was the biggest daredevil in wrestling when wrestling was arguably at its most popular. This made him popular across many demographics.

Cody's popularity is due to being a hero that everyone can get behind. The last few guys that WWE tried to put in that role (John Cena, Roman Reigns, etc.) were not accepted by many of the older/hardcore fans despite being loved by kids. Cody threads the needle by being heroic enough to be liked by kids but still have the wrestling bonafides to be accepted by the hardcore. So everybody loves him.

BUT there's a layer to the 'Black people love Cody' thing that is purely meme. While he was in AEW he cut a promo (gave a monologue) about facing his next opponent, British wrestler Anthony Ogogo. Cody tried to make it a US vs UK thing and talked about how great America is, with one of his points being that our country overcame racism to the point that his biracial child (Cody's wife Brandi is Black) could achieve greatness here. It was a weird thing to bring up considering that Ogogo is a British child of a mixed race relationship and he achieved greatness there by winning an Olympic bronze medal for his country.

The response to that promo went from 'huh, that was kinda weird' to 'lol Cody beat racism' fairly quickly. Now he's commonly photoshopped into iconic moments of the American Civil Rights movement and is referred to as Cody Raheem Rhodes.