Former WWE star Cody Rhodes recently appeared on The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show and below are some interview highlights:
I’ve heard this a lot, and I’m just a fan, I don’t pretend to be an insider like I think a lot of people who talk about wrestling do, they talk a lot about when they’re bringing guys into NXT from the indies that it’s their way and then there’s the WWE way. How much different is that going to be when we see you for the first time outside of a WWE ring?
“I think, without sounding so negative, when you’re told you’re not good from your employer, when your employer tells you you’re not good or when his exact words are, “there’s no interest in you,” to your face, you want to change that opinion, you want to prove them wrong, it’s motivating, it’s probably good leadership to some degree, but when I was unable to do so because of playing essentially, my half brother’s character long past the point that I was supposed to continue with it was just discouraging because I was boxed into that. You can’t prove them wrong when you’re doing essentially slapstick comedy. As much as I love Jim Carrey Riddler, I could only rip him off so much.
“So it’s my chance to get back on track from where we were in 2013, 2012, 2011, when I was just finger lengths away from the keys to the kingdom and I kind of fell from grace. That’s more my fault likely than it is theirs, but it’s my chance to kind of get back on track. You said the Indy way and the WWE way, I don’t really particularly look at it that way. Pro wrestling is pro wrestling to me, whether it’s in WWE, or whether it’s in Lucha Underground, or whether it’s in Evolve, wherever. I consider myself a student of the game and somebody that always wants to improve and learn about pro wrestling. People who remember 2012, 2013, and 2011, they’ll be excited to see that side of Cody again. But by no means am I sleeping on this transition, a whole lot of new things have to happen and a whole lot of changes. If you were to come to the house here in Dallas, Texas, you’d see. We’ve got a ring set up here. at my actual house, don’t ask me how it fits, and because I can’t do anything but sit on my ass, essentially for ninety days, I work out in the morning, I work out in the ring in the afternoon, and at night I grab Pharaoh, my husky, and we run while Brandi shines the light of my car on us. It’s a hell of a deal, I wish somebody was filming it, we’d be able to make a pretty sweet montage.
You really did well with something that maybe you didn’t want to do, but it was really cool to see you sink your teeth into it and make it into something incredibly entertaining and I hope at least you can take that away from your time as Stardust.
“Listen, I didn’t like the idea of Stardust but once it’s handed to you, that’s your job. That was my job and I wanted to create something, I did not want to get roped into being Goldust-lite. I thought I had my own nice dichotomy between the personality of my brother and myself, so I wanted to make it something different and we kind of lurched towards the super-villain route. On live events like that where the best wrestling in WWE actually is, on the live events, those moments are unforgettable. Stardust did things in a unique way, I probably would have just given you a shout out, but Stardust gave a shout out to your dog. He’s a lover of animals, he’s a cat guy, I don’t even own a cat, but Stardust is a cat guy. Lot of weird things about him.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
