This past Saturday at All Elite Wrestling’s (AEW) All Out pay-per-view, Cody Rhodes defeated his rival Shawn Spears in a grudge match. On a recent episode of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray praised their matchup, highlighting Cody’s commitment to telling a story in the ring, at one point comparing his in-ring storytelling skills to his father, Dusty Rhodes.
“The smartest thing that Cody Rhodes has done since All In was handpick his opponents,” said Bully Ray. “He handpicked the most emotional stories he could. He’s smart. The NWA World Heavyweight Championship, he handpicked Nick [Aldis] because he knows the relationship that the Rhodes family have with the NWA Championship. That’s why that worked. His rivalry with his brother, which was a very real-life story, that’s why that worked. Asking his brother to be his partner and teammate, that’s why that worked.”
Bully Ray continued, “Now, I’ve exhausted all of those things, what does he do? I’ll take my friend Shawn Spears, who I’ve spoke about, who I was friends with since the first day I stepped into developmental. I’m gonna have him show up and […] crank me in the head with an unprotected chair shot—one of the most taboo things you can do in wrestling right now. Oh, and by the way, I’m going to make it work.”
He argued that by handpicking his opponents, and having nods to the past with the inclusion of Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, Cody is “mastering the art of smoke and mirrors.” He asked which match had the least amount of wrestling moves but, ultimately told the best story, before stating it was the Cody vs Spears matchup. This mindset and drive for storytelling in a match is why Bully Ray believes that “Cody is AEW’s Dusty.”
