Current WWE undisputed champion Cody Rhodes says Nintendo sent him a cease and desist for wearing the Triforce on his boots.
During his first run at WWE in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Rhodes occasionally wore the Triforce symbol from The Legend of Zelda games on his boots.
Now, in the latest episode of his podcast What Do You Wanna Talk About, Rhodes explained to fellow wrestler Kit Wilson why he used to do it, and revealed that he was eventually asked to stop.
Showing Wilson the Triforce tattoo on his ring finger, Rhodes joked “I live that shit, dog”, before explaining: “I thought [about] the principles of the Triforce, which are power, courage, and wisdom.
“For those who don’t know, Zelda’s the wise one, obviously Link is the one who’s got the courage, and power is Ganon. They make up the three parts of the Triforce. That’s the whole deal.
“And I just liked the idea of thinking and leaning towards your own wisdom, or what you’ve learned and applying it, of being ambitious and wanting to be powerful, if you can, in a world that’s competitive, of sports and sports entertainment, and then having the courage to do it.
“Here you are, you’re taking a dive, you bust your elbow. You’re gonna decide to take the dive the next night, and you bust your elbow even further. I thought it was just applicable.”
He then revealed: “I also got a cease and desist from Nintendo.” He added: “It was very kind, they weren’t… it was polite, they weren’t coming after anybody, I’m not the first guy to have the Triforce.”
This wasn’t the first time Rhodes discussed his Triforce boots – he actually discussed them in a 2008 issue of WWE Magazine, in a feature where he’s asked to reveal what he carries with him in his travel bag.
“If you take a look at the logo on my boots, you’ll notice that it’s the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda,” he said at the time. “You know how some people have a book they re-read every year? Well, I replay The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Super Nintendo every year. In the game, the Triforce symbolized power, wisdom and courage. I thought I could apply those qualities to my life.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Rhodes equated the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with the professional wrestling business, suggesting both were examples of companies reacting to fan requests.
“People don’t realise it’s wrestling,” he explained. “Twilight Princess is a story about wrestling. Fans like what they like, and when they get vocal enough, the whole world can change, and I know this first-hand – my whole world changed because of fans being vocal enough.
“Wind Waker’s a great game. They just weren’t ready for how it looked. They weren’t ready and they had grown up enough with the series that they wanted – Wind Waker’s a great game – they wanted: ‘Where’s our edgy Zelda? Where’s Link? Where’s like he’s growing? Where is it?’ So here comes Twilight Princess.”
