Pretty Good Cody Rhodes Interview

[Hoss]

Cody Rhodes keeps his family's tradition alive on WWE's Monday Night Raw | The Fast Pitch

Cody Rhodes keeps his family's tradition alive on WWE's Monday Night Raw
Posted by Justin Kendall on Wed, May 15, 2013 at 9:00 AM


The Rhodes wrestling family has spilled a lot of blood in rings around the world, including Kansas City. Patriarch "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes was a champion in the 1960s, '70s and '80s (holding the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship in '68, and dropping the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair in September 1981 at Memorial Hall).

Cody Rhodes was destined to follow his father and his half-brother, Dustin "Goldust" Rhodes, into the business. As a teenager, he refereed matches for his dad's now-defunct independent promotion and sneaked into mini matches when he thought his dad wasn't looking. "I never imagined doing anything else," Rhodes says.

The second-generation star is keeping his family tradition alive in the world's biggest wrestling company. On May 20, Rhodes is one of the featured grapplers on Monday Night Raw, broadcasting live from the Sprint Center on the USA Network. After a lengthy tour of the United Kingdom, Rhodes called The Pitch from his home in Johns Creek, Georgia, to talk about his memories of Kansas City, his mustache and his challenge to Morgan Freeman.

The Pitch: You grew up in the business. Do you have any memories of Kansas City wrestling?

Rhodes: I have tons of memories of different events that I went to with my father, specifically Kansas City. Kansas City was a hotbed for the NWA. This was something he told me when I was real young about Kansas City and St. Louis: The ring was traditionally way harder in Kansas City. Certain guys, you'd see them flying all around the ring maybe in Virginia or Georgia, but you'd get to Kansas City, and it was a slower pace. This was the '70s and '80s. I don't know why they always had the harder ring. Harley Race hails from that area, and he's probably the toughest guy in wrestling history. Maybe that ring is the reason why.

You have a fantastic mustache. Whose idea was it to grow it?

Well, my fiancée is sitting right next to me, and she hates the mustache. So I don't know if it's as fantastic as you say, but thank you very much. It was mine, but it wasn't really this huge overreaching grand design. The only time that I've ever been injured in my career - I had x amount of days that I didn't have to be on television, and in that time I grew, originally, a very poor mustache. It's grown into being rather full-bodied now. It was something that when I came back, everyone appreciated the fact my partner at the time, Damien Sandow, had the massive 19th-century beard, and I had the mustache with the intent of taking it away from the modern hipster and putting a little civility back into it.

Is this something that is going to be put on the line in a stipulation match, say at Extreme Rules pay-per-view that night before Raw in KC?

I know that you can't shave anything - your head, your facial hair. You can't do anything like that in sports entertainment unless it's public. I'm pretty confident you'll see the mustache on the line somewhere down the line. Extreme Rules would be a wonderful venue for it. I don't know if the WWE Universe would be very stoked about a mustache being on the line when the title of the pay-per-view is Extreme Rules. But I guess I extremely want to keep it.

Maybe you could put it on the line against Daniel Bryan's beard?

You know what, I'd be doing everybody a service. Man, from when he showed up clean-cut, all-American guy to this now, it's ridiculous. I was on a plane with him a few days ago, and people are always staring at him. In this case, they're just looking at how this man with this legitimate cavemanlike beard is sitting up in first class. I want to know his story.

You recently challenged Morgan Freeman to a fight. Has he answered?

That was such a bizarre thing. I did an interview in London, and that's where the challenge was laid out. A young man asked me who was a celebrity that I'd like mixing it up with, and I tried to give him an answer other than an action star. Now look what I've gotten myself into. Now I'm going to see Morgan Freeman somewhere down the line, and he's going to end up cold-cocking me in the face, and I'm going to feel horrible.

I just kind of, off the top of my head, said Morgan Freeman because of his outstanding voice, and he could do a March of the Penguins - type documentary on our match. But the fact that it got such buzz about it, now at this point I'm hoping for some rebuttal from Morgan Freeman and his camp. That would make my day, as a huge fan.

What is the pinnacle of what you want to do in WWE?

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I don't do this for the money. I'd like to headline multiple WrestleManias, and I'd like to be WWE champion, and I'd like to be world heavyweight champion. Anything that describes the top of my field at the time is where I'd like to be. It's kind of ambiguous because what we do is entertainment, but certainly those top-tier titles are not something that are given. They're earned. That's where I'd like to be.

Do you feel that you're ready?

I think so. The WWE Universe, they've seen me grow up on their television. I didn't show up a fully polished superstar. I showed up rather undersized and underwhelming and had to grow. People who thought that they might move ahead of me, I moved ahead of them. It's been quite a ladder to climb already, but I think in their eyes that I'm ready, and that's all that matters because they truly dictate what's happening on television, and that's a good thing.

You and your brother, Goldust, had an encounter at this year's Royal Rumble. Would you like to feud with him?

I think WWE moving forward is focusing more now on developing its younger talent. And that kind of leaves Goldust out. But it got such a good response that I'm pretty confident that you will see something somewhere down the line. I don't know when and I don't know where.

Any other challenges you want to throw out?

Oh, no. I've got a full plate ahead of me, especially in case I ever see Morgan Freeman.

 

[Omar Little]

You can tell dude really does love the business. Hopefully he can get a main event level push but just cant see it happening with his current character. Damnit whyd they stop his Dr. Doom gimmick

 

[Mr.Black]

all that passion and yet hes SOOOOOOOOOOO generic looking and utterly boring

 

[DaylitoJames]

You can tell dude really does love the business. Hopefully he can get a main event level push but just cant see it happening with his current character. Damnit whyd they stop his Dr. Doom gimmick

The real question is why WWE didn't do "Cody Rhodes vs Goldust" at either WrestleMania 28 or WrestleMania 29?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

nothing bland about Cody. He's a great character and is a great wrestler when motivated. Sometimes when he's sent out there to job in 2-3 minutes he choreographs shyt and blows through a match like against Kofi but that's not his fault really.

The anger he can display on a second's notice and carry it throughout the rest of the match is godly. Bad bad booking for him goalwise but dude is still a nutcase in the ring, someone should shave his stache and make him think he's ugly again.

 

[Daracell]

The real question is why WWE didn't do "Cody Rhodes vs Goldust" at either WrestleMania 28 or WrestleMania 29?

They messed up when they didnt do it at Mania 28. They coulda made it If Goldust didnt win the Interconental title he must retire for good.

Instead they have Cody put over the Big Slow

 

[DaylitoJames]

They messed up when they didnt do it at Mania 28. They coulda made it If Goldust didnt win the Interconental title he must retire for good.

Instead they have Cody put over the Big Slow

Looking back on it the past 2 wrestlemanias Big Show just got thrown into a match with someone random, last year it was with Cody and this year it was The Shield. Meanwhile last year Cody got put into a struggle I.C. Title match and this year he got bumped off for no reason... why they doing this to Codence "Cody" Rhodes

 

[WOAHMYGOODNESS]

i'll never forgive the E for taking his MASK!

 

[Bob Loblaw]

for real, after Cody faced Rey he should've faced Jericho or Booker T if he was in ringshape and defeated all of the old guard of WCW to legitimize him as the new Old Guard given that he's a throwback old school wrestler. instead they'll continue to job him out when his pedigree gives you so many places to go.

you can have his brother show up sometimes as dustin, sometimes as goldust, sometimes as the croc hunter, or the sprewell jersey to give him the draw that he inherited all of his fukked upness from his brother who was tormented by living in dusty's shadow. bringing him back like that is a sight gag in itself that makes sense because it draws upon the continuity and reverence of the rich character instead of plugging him in a hole where it'd be a funny sight gag

then cody could chill in boiler rooms and play like Dust is a ghost that's haunting him and keeps making him change himself.
freeing themselves up to tell the story in the ring instead of running down the pedigree of a guy you continue to pull the rug out from under.

 

[Tres Leches]

I think cokeboy really hates this dude...everytime cody gets over cokeboy de-pushes him..maybe he's payin for something dusty or goldust did


1) legacy gets over...they split em up job him out to the leader rko



2) dashing cody rhodes is over...naaa lets put a mask on him



3) gets over with the mask...naaa lets take the mask off for no reason



4) gets over with sandow as a tag-team..lets split them up...no wait lets put them back together but never give them the tag titles

 

[TrueEpic08]

I really don't see what others see in Cody. He's good, but not even close to main event (or even really upper mid-card) level yet, simply because he puts on some of the most boring heat segments I've even seen in the ring. You can't be put at a certain level when the middle of your matches consistently puts people to sleep.

I will say that the Rhodes Scholars team was perfect for both guys, and it's a shame that they never got the tag belts from Hell No when they had some real heat. Neither Rhodes nor Sandow are really that good when it comes to putting on the type of long form singles matches that are needed to be in the upper mid-card and beyond, but as a tag team, they can share the burden and let their characters get them over. I was actually looking forward to seeing the two with the belts.

Naturally, the WWE proceeds to job them out to Hell No, split them up, put them back together (to feud with the fukking New Age Outlaws of all teams), and proceed to do jack shyt with them. Horrible.

Nevertheless, very good interview with the man.

 

[Carl Tethers]

Actually an all-round great wrestler.