PHILADELPHIA — A day after WrestleMania XL closed down at Lincoln Financial Field, the buzz was still all about Cody Rhodes.

Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns in the main event of the WWE’s two-night spectacle, setting off a celebration that filled the ring with more than a dozen people, including fellow wrestlers, WWE legends like John Cena and the Undertaker, and Rhodes’ own wife Brandi and mother Michelle.

In a promotion known for putting on a great “performance,” the emotion felt real.

And according to Rhodes, that’s because it was.

For more than two years, WWE has told the “story” of Rhodes winning the title that his father, the legendary Dusty Rhodes, never could. And while Sunday night’s result may have been foretold, what came afterward largely was not.

“I feel like the suspension of disbelief with sports entertainment and pro wrestling, sometimes it’s one way on the scale, and when it’s best it’s because it’s real, so why not involve the real components?” Rhodes told Today.com on Monday morning, mentioning his mother and Brandi as planned elements. “Everything else was just like icing on top of an incredibly delicious cake just because I didn’t expect it, didn’t anticipate it, didn’t coordinate it. [It] was as sincere as sincere gets in terms of a celebration.”

The emotion extended behind the curtain as well. WWE executives Paul (Triple H) Levesque, Bruce Prichard and Nick Khan gave Cody a Rolex watch that had once belonged to his father, who died in 2015 — a watch Dusty had pawned when the family was down on its luck. Cody tearfully recounted that gift during a post-event news conference.

“I came to the back, and Bruce Prichard and Triple H and Nick Khan handed me this, which is the same watch that my dad had that he pawned so that I could go to acting school. So the level of investment and responsibility that the company just put in my hands, I hope I can pay it back, pay it forward 100 times over,” Rhodes said.