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Mike Johnson: So one thing that AEW is starting to branch out into is licensing the beginning of August, Walmart and RingsideCollectibles.com are going to be carrying the first series of AEW action figures. Obviously this is a nice revenue stream for the company, and it's a nice step forward for the company. Thoughts on the action figures, especially since you get to kinda have the Star Trek-inspired Cody Exclusive as part of that set.
Cody: Yeah, (laughs), we, uh, that variant is so good, such a great...they did such a great job. It's really a matter of Dana Massie went out there and found the absolute best team you could find. Finding Jeremy who's a toy in the, you know, a legend in the toy world, and his acknowledgement of the collector which the collector is such a huge part of who buys wrestling action figures in this day and age. Having Mark Kaplan as one of our people in licensing, having Nick Sobek, having Excalibur, who's, you know he's another person in AEW who does many jobs that you may not see, having their experience in the marketing world, having Brandi there for brand management and the brand look, what comes to shelves in Walmart August 3rd I believe is when we're hoping the landing, damn special. Jeremy and Magic, his name is Magic, and Greg from Wicked Cool Toys, just did a wonderful, wonderful job. They kept us in the loop because that's always been really important. I am very overbearing in this role, I am, but it's only because I want to know everything that's going on, but I am also of the belief that let talented people be talented and Dana let these folks go to town and they made great figures from prototype to production, they made figures with points of articulation, with the two scale ring, with genuine gear, with two scale, like just really, really did a great job and the figure world has seemed to agree with me on it and now I just want to see how they do when they hit shelves. I know, I text somebody every morning about getting, I want a suit Cody so bad, and they're terrified because back in the day a suit action figure didn't sell. I'm telling you, it'll work but I really, I'm really proud of what they've done, that's just the beginning, there's a lot of other licensing deals that are going to come to light soon, all major deals, that that team have put together and it really speaks to the staying power of AEW, just as a wrestling fan, say I never set foot into AEW or had anything to do with it, I would love knowing that the place is going to stick around, it's going to be a home for great entertainment and great wrestlers and some of these licensing deals coming up are big boy major stuff and I'm excited.
Mike Johnson: Maybe we're going to get the Cody/Pharoah two pack at some point, how about that as an idea?
Cody: So they talked to me about it when we were filming the commercial...
Mike Johnson: (Laughs) Did they really?
Cody: Yeah, they talked to me about it, and uh, he would love it but Brandi kinda overheard it and I could see she was, I think Brandi wanted to be the two pack, uh with Pharoah, so I don't care, we'll fight over it but that's our guy. He's actually, he's a good interview dog, he sits, just right by me until I'm done with these things uh, he's the best. There's nothing like, I don't know if there's any Husky owners out there or wolf breed owners but these are the best dogs ever, they're just, they're so, so unique, and he's always a welcome presence at AEW, everyone seems to love him. He really likes all the heels, it's weird, he's not a babyface dog, he likes all the heels more than anything but whatever.
Mike Johnson: Better watch out, there might be a turn coming (laughs).
Cody: Yeah I know.
Mike Johnson: As we got out of here, I have one last question for you. Obviously, your family has a huge legacy working with the Turner Broadcasting System and the Turner family in general. What's it like adding that new chapter? How much does that weigh on your shoulders knowing that you are effectively in a similar situation that your dad was in many decades ago in terms of creating content and building a relationship with the same company, although it's a much different situation, it's a much different company. How much does that weigh on your shoulders and how much have you had to reflect on that in the madness of creating and performing week to week?
Cody: It's really easy to go kinda down into that space where I get very kind of melancholy and of course nostalgic and I miss my dad, you know it's five/six years now, it doesn't make it any different, it feels like it was yesterday that I was sitting in that hospital room and watching it all happen, but I think I've learned that I almost want to get away from that legacy to a degree, or I almost, a better way of putting it, I want to compete with that legacy. I don't want my identity to just be that I was Dusty's son, believe me it's something that I'm proud of and all of that, but actually now that we're on similar platforms and in similar roles, um which is insane and I hope somebody does write a book about it, about just the, how time and fate all works, but I do say this, Dusty is somebody I'd like to compete with. I know exactly how good, in the box office, in the ring, I know exactly how good Dusty was with no bias, and I ain't close to it yet, but I don't mind competing with it, I really don't, because that's what he would want and I feel like I'm one of the leading experts on what he would want versus everyone else who does to a degree, I understand has a fan ownership of him, but I want to be better than him, I want to be better than Dustin and I don't mean that in any mean spirited way at all, I just...I just want the legacy to move on, and you know, I want to move ahead of them on the graphic, if that makes any sense and he would love that and that's the space I like to be in mentally, versus the space of just remembering and doing things for him, because if you get into that space it's real hard to get out and believe me, I slip into it every now and then, he was my dad, and he was a great dad, hall of fame dad, so it's hard to slip out of it, and it's hard sometimes for my family to understand what I'm doing and why I'm such a d*** a lot of the times and why I'm so, you know, focused and laser-eyed on things. I want to get something done, I don't always know what it is, but competing with Dusty is part of it.
Mike: The way you just described it to me, that sounds like the perfect...competing with him would be the same way he would compete with anybody else and that's kind of the maverick spirit or the Texas Outlaw spirit if we're going to make a Dick Murdoch reference, that's sort of the spirit that he carried his entire career as a wrestler and behind the scenes so I...I think that's what he would want for you, so I mean, I think that's the proper way to look at it.
Cody: That cowboy blood man.
Mike: Well we're going see that cowboy blood and perhaps some other things this Wednesday on Dynamite. Any hints as to who your opponent might be before we get out of here?
Cody: Sure, he's not from our roster from my understanding, he's from the outside world.
Mike: All right, well we're going to see who this outsider is on Wednesday. Anybody wants to check out Cody on Twitter and follow his exploits there you can go to twitter.com/codyrhodes and of course you can find all things AEW at AEW's Twitter and their website. Sir, always a good time talking to you, appreciate the time, look forward to when we get a chance to sit down and our paths cross again. Any final words for everybody as we got out of here?
Cody: No I was going to ask you what your favorite Star Trek episode was, but you, we went really long and I'm super long winded so I don't know if you wannt to share. I think I know what my current favorite, all Trek series of all time, my current favorite is The Drumhead, I haven't moved from that in a minute on TNG but I didn't know where you stood.
Mike Johnson I don't know the episode titles off the top of my head but I still love the Borg assimilating Picard and the cliffhanger, and then the two-parter with the Borg and I mean obviously we went back into that with the Picard series, with him dealing with the ramifications of that, which I loved and I thought was just beautiful acting with everybody involved and a great journey for Jean Luc Picard, but I still love that two-partner, and I still love the pilot to Deep Space Nine. Deep Space Nine to me is still the best Trek of all time, I love that series cause it's dirty and it's grit and it's real life.
Cody: Yeah.
Mike: To me, it's kind of what I liked about Star Wars with the original trilogy, but yeah that two-parter where Picard becomes assimilated into the Borg and then they have to figure some way to deal with all this I think is some of the best Trek writing they've ever done.
Cody: It's the Best of Both Worlds, that's what it is.
Mike: That's what it is, yeah!
Cody: One of the greater cliffhangers in all of TV history.
Mike: 100%. All right so next time we talk we're going talk about that and last time we did one of these long form ones we debated Last Jedi so we are going to do that. We gotta loop back around and we'll talk Rise of Skywalker next time.
Cody: I'm all for that especially after Skywalker came out. I'm all for revisiting Last Jedi!
Mike: All right, so we will make that happen next time we talk. That's our cliffhanger, so there you go, we'll save it for next time.
Cody: There it is.
Mike: I thank you again and we look forward to seeing what happens with AEW this Wednesday and every Wednesday thereafter on TNT and beyond, and I want to thank everybody for listening. Until next time I'm Mike Johnson. Cody - thank you so much for your time, sir.
Cody: Thank you buddy.
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