In an interview with The Kingston Whig-Standard to promote the WWE’s upcoming live event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, WWE superstar Cody Rhodes discussed his goals in the WWE, his father Dusty Rhodes, his brother Goldust and much more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On his WWE goals: “I’m obsessed with my industry and I don’t treat it like a job, so very much at the end of the day, the goals are very simple, it’s the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship and if it’s just one Championship [the WWE World Heavyweight Championship], then it’s that. It’s that position. With them unifying the titles, then it’s that single title. It’s the main event. Talking about this Toronto live event, we’re kind of the second main event with the Steel Cage Match with The Real Americans, which is so exciting because how frequently do you get a Steel Cage Match on a live event? And then there’s the main event with Randy Orton and John Cena. I watch those guys and as much as I respect and as many questons as I’ll ask them, I’m also sitting there telling myself, I want your spot because I want to do it better. And I hope I know how to do it better when I get there. And I mean that with utmost respect. I don’t mean it with any negativity or negative connotation. That for me is the end game.”
On his father’s legacy in the business: “I think my Dad is a pro wrestler, and he’s one of the, in my mind – and I’m very non-biased of my family; he wasn’t my favourite because I wasn’t his audience – but as far as looking back on it, he’s a top-five professional wrestler for me. And he was one of the guys, one of THE visionaries, like Vince (McMahon), like Eric Bischoff, like Bill Watts. He was one of those visionaries who saw wrestling bigger than wrestling. Yeah, they were still a part of the sport, but they saw the entertainment value, the big-show value, like Starrcade. As much as he gets credit for being a performer, I think he should be given as much credit though for how him and Vince, going head to head, with the big show, for as long as they were…that’s helped us get to the point today where we’re doing the WrestleMania 31 press conference before we’re even doing the WrestleMania 30 pay-per-view, it’s such an event.”
On teaming with his brother Goldust and how well he’s looked and worked since his WWE return: “If you look at Dustin’s situation now, I think it’s an open book. There’s more left to give, as Dustin has found out. And the audience has more to give him. I don’t know, really, Dustin’s personal issues and his personal struggles and the triumphs he’s made over them if his career would have been different, but I know that he’s not leaving it up to a what if? Because here he is with this character that he built that was ahead of its time, that was part of a great generation of sports entertainment and he’s presenting it to a new audience, in a PG fashion, which is difficult enough, and I’m not trying to be an a–hole here, but him and I have the best matches of the show. We have ever since we’ve been together. And that’s a huge honour, that’s a huge responsibility and it’s a huge honour. You can say what you want about the future of the industry, he’s helping out the future by being in there with me. He’s got a place in it right now just as much as they do and I really like that.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
