This past weekend, I traveled to Tampa/St. Peterburg, FL, to attend WWE’s Royal Rumble and to play WWE 2K24 at a special preview event. You can look for my hands-on impressions and video footage of my gameplay on Thursday, February 1. But while I was there, I had the chance to chat with one of 2K24’s cover stars and the winner of the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble match, Cody Rhodes.

The “American Nightmare” is a lifelong gamer and professed Zelda fanatic (fun fact: during his early WWE run in ‘07-’08, his wrestling boots sported the Triforce logo). So I decided to forgo any wrestling questions and spent the few precious minutes I had with Cody getting his take on Tears of the Kingdom, how Majora’s Mask stacks up compared to his favorite Zelda game, Ocarina of Time and asked what game he’s most looking forward to playing in 2024. 

Game Informer: I know you’re a big Zelda fan, so I gotta ask: did you play Tears of the Kingdom, and if so, what do you think? 

Cody Rhodes: Yeah, I went right through it. So I feel like Breath of the Wild and Tears of Kingdom are one game because they’re so huge. Like, you don’t ever need to play another Zelda ever again if you’re playing Tears of the Kingdom. I mean, just with the Depths, hunting all the damn Lynels down, and the Lynels just get harder as I get older, which makes me feel like I’m out of touch with gaming itself. But I really liked the story. We wanted more story with Breath of the Wild, we got some of that story with Ganondorf. But they did the right thing in terms of [realizing] “they still want more. Still want more.” And I just think we’re in a kind of golden age of the games that I grew up loving. Metal Gear Solid and Zelda, you’re seeing remakes, you’re seeing remasters, potentially an animated or a live-action movie. To me, I can’t ask for a better thing because we gave all this energy as fans to it, and it can still continue on, you know?

GI: Yeah, for sure. I’m playing Majora’s Mask for the first time for a video feature for my website. Is that a favorite of yours? I know you’re a big Ocarina of Time fan, but where do you land a Majora’s Mask?

Rhodes: So Majora’s Mask is a masterpiece. I get mad at it because people try to say it’s better than Ocarina of Time. I feel like they’re also one game, but Majora’s Mask for what it did with the cycle, the three-day cycle, and things changing with the night and day, there’s still some games in this era who aren’t getting that right. Like, it had a Red Dead-level nuance to it for a Nintendo 64 game. Love Majora’s Mask.

Myself and Cody (rocking a trademark expensive suit) hang at the WWE 2K24 event. Side note: his loafers were incredible.

GI: I don’t know how much time you have to play games now, but do you have a game that you’re looking forward to coming out this year or anything that you haven’t gotten to in your backlog?

Rhodes: I’ll jump forward and say 2K24 for sure because I’ve only gotten a little bit of a taste of it and have been amazed. But the big one for me is [Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater]. And then, hopefully, I wonder if we’ll get a Metal Gear Collection Volume 2 because I know a lot of people want to see Metal Gear Solid 4 playable on modern consoles. So here’s hoping.

WWE 2K24 launches on March 8 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.