Who is AEW Wrestler Cody Rhodes’ wife? Everything to know about Brandi Rhodes.
Wrestler Cody Rhodes, the son of wrestler Dusty “American Dream” Rhodes, has been wrestling professionally since 2006. After earning himself the title of Triple Crown Champion in Ohio Valley Wrestling, aka OVW, he went on to sign with the acting company — we mean wrestling media company — WWE in 2007. Cody, aka the American Nightmare, would eventually leave WWE in 2016, the two-time Intercontinental Champion moving on to sign with All Elite Wrestling, aka AEW.
“My work just needs to be elsewhere,” he stated regarding his departure from WWE. Moving on from the uber-popular promotion, home to wresting and acting superstar John Cena (we can practically hear his theme song playing now), allowed him to not only rediscover what attracted him to pro wrestling in the first place but also allowed him to take on a role in executive vice president of AEW alongside Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson).
But who is AEW’s chief brand officer, Brandi Rhodes? Yes, she is in fact Cody Rhodes’ wife, but what’s their story? Here’s everything to know about the happy couple.
Who is Brandi Rhodes?
Brandi Rhodes made her debut as WWE NXT ring announcer Eden Stiles in 2011, eventually doing some wrestling as well. But before she landed herself in the ring, the Michigan-born gal was a professional ice skater, more often than not being the only Black figure skater competing. “Those were some of the best years of my life — my experiences and friendships in that sport,” she recalled to the Television Critics Association.
She soared across the ice from the age of 4 until she was 21, leaving the sport she adored so much to study broadcasting at the University of Michigan. We’re sure she never expected that degree to land her in a WWE ring, let alone in the heart of Cody “American Nightmare” Rhodes. “The biggest surprise to me about wrestling is how engrossed you become in it … I’m consumed by it,” she explained. The two met during their time at WWE.
How did the wrestling duo start dating?
“I looked at her ringside and I went from working the 10,000 people to just her … I thought she was the most amazing and beautiful woman,” Cody sweetly said of his now-wife. The musclebound tough guy seemingly has a soft, gushy heart. As for the way Brandi remembers the start of their relationship, well, it’s a bit different. “We started dating randomly. I had been there for a minute, and Cody hadn’t really shown much interest in me at all, so it wasn’t something that I had thought about,” she told WrestlingInc.com‘s Raj Giri.
“And then, all of a sudden, he became extremely fascinated with me,” she continued. She detailed that some of the wrestling girls insisted that he liked her, he was just doing his best to be cool, calm, and collected. Ah, men. “Finally, he started asking me to come hang out with him and I said no many times because it’s a work environment and I was new at the time and was not looking to rock the boat.”
“I definitely did want to go out with him. I was very into him, but it took a while,” she said. And, just as Brandi put it, “the rest is history.” The couple has been married since 2013, even welcoming a daughter, Liberty, into the world in 2021. “I want my daughter to be as passionate about something as I am with wrestling. It took me a good 27 years to find that,” she told the TCA.
While playing an equally intense and hilarious round of Us Weekly‘s “Not-So-Newly Married Game,” the married couple promoted their upcoming TNT reality show, Rhodes to the Top, which aims to give fans a peek into the lives of Cody and Brandi, which obviously just got a lot more hectic with the birth of little Liberty. Perhaps her first words will be “Welcome to the main event of the evening!”
Do Cody Rhodes and Brandi have kids?
Brandi Runnels and Cody Rhodes welcomed their first child into the world on June 18, 2021. Brandi gave birth to a baby girl and named her Liberty Iris.
Runnels is the cousin of professional wrestler Scorpio Sky.
