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Cody Rhodes appeared yesterday on WFAN Radio in NYC to discuss Summerslam this weekend and more with Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata. Highlights from the conversation:
This weekend's event:
"This is SummerSlam’s first two-night. And there's so much responsibility in the fact that it's two nights. In terms of MetLife, this is a huge iconic stadium. A lot of energy. Plus, we're at WWE’s backyard and it needs to be—the first one needs to be the absolute best one to set the standard. If we can keep doing this two nights each year, and then not just WrestleMania be a two-night affair. So having Jelly Roll, having Cardi B, John Cena's Farewell Tour—all these elements of it are really important. I think everyone coming Saturday and Sunday is in for a lot of surprises and the good stuff."
Summerslam expanding to two nights:
"Oh, I love it. I love the two nights because no matter how much you love wrestling—and I learned this when I was doing the independent stuff, one of them House of Glory in New York doing independent wrestling—they do a lot of dream matches where it’s 12 matches and all these matches need some dedicated time. But the issue is the same as if you go see a movie. You might love the movie you're seeing. It might be Denzel and Denzel could be your favorite actor, but we can't sit there for five hours without losing a little steam. You can't sit there for seven hours—a marathon show. It ends up hurting the crowd a little bit and then it sets up those who go last for not the best scenario. I like the idea of two nights because it spreads the real estate. It keeps our crowd—the crowd's gonna get more bang for their buck each night. And it also helps our locker room because the real thing about what we do is the struggle to get on these events, is the struggle to headline these events. That's the most real thing in our industry—is to fight for it."
Match types Rhodes wants to do:
"First Blood match is one. Dog collar I don't see ever happening because of the neck and the whole... oh gosh." But you know what too? Here's one that I've thought about. I don't know what you'd name it, because we have street fights. Like John Cena and I, SummerSlam—it's a street fight. And it will be full-tilt boogie. Everything we can think of, right?"
"I used to love when they'd do the ropes in barbed wire. I thought it was—because Dusty and Tully would do it. There was something about just the danger. WWE's done the Inferno Match. Where you get near the fire. The danger of getting close—it's just like a kind of performer's, competitor's dream. That’s one I’ve thought about a lot in terms of that—barbed wire and putting them on the ropes. That wasn't gimmick. It's real. It's real. A lot of these items, you’ve gotta be really careful. 'Cause if you gimmick them by today's standards, it's easy for somebody to find out you gimmicked them, and the first time Terry Funk falls back into barbed wire and gets all tangled up, you realize—oh. I just did a tour at the WWE warehouse and I saw Triple H’s 2x4 with the barbed wire wrap that he set on fire to hit Mankind in Hell in a Cell. The amount of things that were in this match that I just realized I’ve seen.."
Following Dusty Rhodes into the business:
"I think so much of my early career was really geared towards just classic son trying to make his dad happy. Son trying to make his dad proud. And a lot of times subconsciously—there's people who are really heavy-handed with, 'I just want him to be proud. I just want that hug.' I had all that. He was loving. He was top father—just Hall of Fame level father. But you still are chasing something. I think in my case, I was chasing his legacy. Because—and this is not a knock on anybody—second, third generations, there aren't as many who had a father who did as much. They're out there, but he really climbed the mountain, then climbed another mountain, created all these concepts from behind the scenes to on-screen. And that's just a really difficult legacy to catch up, and you hear guys all the time, 'Oh, he's not gonna be able to fill those shoes' or 'the shadow' and whatever it was. I think that's part of life is—I’m not afraid to chase it. I wanna see if I did. WrestleMania. WWE Title. That’s the thing he didn’t get."
Whether he has surpassed his father:
"I would say no every time. 10 times outta 10. However, when somebody like a Mr. Heyman or Bruce Prichard, or WWE: Unreal on Netflix—in the first episode you introduce yourself and you don't say, 'I'm such and such's son'—it's around that time when those things happen that you realize, maybe. Maybe you got a little done. Maybe you carved out something for yourself."
John Cena:
"John was—my legitimate—one of three mentors in wrestling. So back in the rental car days, I drove John around for two years. Every show he's on, last. Every show he's sitting there. He gets his merch report. Every show, everywhere he goes, there's pandemonium because he was the face of WWE at the time. That is wonderful and I love that. But you take those lessons, you apply them, and you hopefully make yourself, and I feel as John has come up here now—one of the real things you're gonna see at SummerSlam is I am not here as a fan. I'm not here as an apprentice. I'm trying to be here and tell you, 'Hey, it's good. I'm gonna take WWE now.' It's good, and that is not popular amongst John Cena fans, and there's an army of them. But that's how it's supposed to be. I do no service to you, John, if I remain the kid driving you around asking questions and not applying the answers. This entire time that we've been linked together since he came back and since Toronto, where he turned bad guy—whatever it is—this entire time has been very authentically a challenge. Very much] in terms of—hey, you gotta see me. No pun intended. You gotta see me. Not the same guy. Not kid. And hopefully that translates in quite a brawl. "I heard John so many times talk about, 'I'm not gonna ever hand this off. I'm not passing this. You're gonna have to outrun me.' I think—it is maybe it's me, maybe it's not me, maybe he sees somebody else—but I do think he's looked at modern WWE. He's seen CM Punk. He's seen Rhea Ripley. He's seen Roman Reigns. He's seen myself. I could name a bunch. He's seen us, and I think—not okay with it—but I think he's aware it's a fight that he could lose. And a fight he could lose has never been a situation for John Cena. His entire run was—he was head and shoulders above everybody else. And now he's joining the fray and that isn't the case. But that's how it's supposed to be. I sound like such a dick. Laughs.] God, I respect him.
WWE Management:
"They're really great. When I say 'they'—I'd say Triple H, I'd say Nick Khan, and The Rock are very good about—they're aware I've got a gut instinct. They're aware I've got an education on it. And they're aware I've got my own opinions on maybe what I could do, what I should do. However, coming in here—one of the greatest gifts to come back to WWE was: you guys tell me. Tell me. I've been too caught up doing this all on my own. Tell me the play. That's why we say the quarterback thing. I am the quarterback of WWE. But you're telling me the play. You tell me the play, and I have to trust you."
Getting beat up:
"This probably will sound—I'll regret saying this—but I'm fine saying it. I am really weird in the sense that I like to get beat up. I like—man, hit me as hard as you can. Hey, got you good? I don’t know what it is. If it’s an alpha toxic wrestler thing, hands down, hit right in the head, whatever it may be. I just—I don’t know. There’s an element of violence to this that I love. And it’s like living. When you’re out there, you’re just—you’re in it."
His Status in the company:
"I consider everything that happens now—including this literal moment, I’m sitting in here with you fine gentlemen—I consider everything undiscovered country. I wanted it, and at a time had confidence. I was never not confident. But I was a very slow learner, and I was treated like a child because I came into the company as a child. And coming back was an opportunity to redo it all—show them exactly who I stand as now, exactly what I have. Everything is a gift. It really is. To main event a WrestleMania is basically like a political campaign—to get to the final two people on Sunday night, the last thing they're going to see in a show that is going to gross absurd amounts of money, bring in billions of dollars in television rights... if you actually weigh it all out and have a perspective on it, it’s a little bit terrifying. It would paralyze you probably with fear. That’s to get one. To now having had four? That’s what I said—undiscovered country. I have plenty of things I still want, but a lot of people around me are asking, 'Hey, what’s next?' You did—made event WrestleMania. You won the title. That dream, done. What’s next? And that’s the scary thought. But that’s the fun in the game."
Memories of growing up with his dad and being around wrestling:
"There’s a really great picture of us camping where Andre came. So there’s a picture of my dad in the urinal next to him, and my dad has his hand on Andre’s ass. My sister has more of these memories—of him just picking her up with one arm. She fell off the back of a boat one time and Road Warrior Hawk snatched her up. Softball games with Sting and Lex Luger. The Four Horsemen coming over for a Thanksgiving. Just—Arn Anderson, that group. A very eclectic group. But it was so normal to me."
"So when I was born, for example, my dad was at the Forum in Los Angeles, and my mom went into labor. So he flew back on a private jet—which is one of the reasons Crockett Promotions would eventually go bankrupt, the amount of use of these private jets. So he flew back with a group of wrestlers—Raging Bull Manny Fernandez, Arn Anderson, Magnum T.A.—and they got him obliterated on the plane." So my Aunt Bobbi—who’s my child’s godmother—claimed she did everything, and then he just showed up for the photo and the photo is of him—he looks completely glassed over. There’s a fresh cut on his head. He’s wearing the scrubs and he’s holding me, and he just looks—he looks like he’s not there, but he’s there at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, the wrestlers—they came immediately from the plane. So the waiting room: pizza stacked sky-high, stuff overturned, Arn Anderson sleeping on the floor... it’s this whole scene.....and then in his booking journal, it says: Forum. It says how much money they made, it says the matches, and at the bottom it just says: 'Cody born.' Just this little—denoted as a booking note."
Backstage culture changes in WWE locker room:
There’s been this big shift in the partying. And Undertaker saw the shift firsthand—because Undertaker was a big beer, Jack Daniels guy, hang out amongst the crew. He was at the tail end of his run with WWE right around the time that we—and Guitar Hero and things that became what was happening. Now it’s a Call of Duty setup in the locker room. So I feel he was very frustrated seeing that this is what’s happening. However... I recently, the charter flight we had back from Saudi Arabia, I tried to get Undertaker-style and get that plane going a little bit, so it’s still there. I don’t mind the video game culture one bit. Because... they're asking us today—you’re doing media, you’re doing press, you’re up early, you’re doing wrestling matches that require you to come off your feet quite a lot, you’re taking big bumps, your neck is at risk—all these things. I don’t mind a healthier crew. A healthier crew is a happier crew."
The entire conversation can be heard at this link.
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