Former WWE Superstar and current Ring Of Honor (ROH) World Heavyweight Champion Cody Rhodes recently did an interview with FOX Sports: Braves to talk about his professional wrestling career. During the interview Rhodes talked about winning the ROH Title, busting his lip open during the match, what the wrestling industry is like today, Dusty Rhodes, and having to compete with Mayweather vs. McGregor. You can check out the highlights right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP51oGqTjTo
Winning the ROH Title:
“I think I felt like I’ll definitely be prepared for this moment, I wanted to be the World Champion since I was a little kid, and i was thrown and rattled by a series of events that night, I busted my lip wide open in the first three minutes of the match where it was legit just hanging open.
“We almost went off the air with a decisive conclusion, so here I am going on last, that’s what I always wanted, and i almost take them off the air without there being a winner. I spent my celebratory moments in the hospital where they stitched me up and, and it still hits me every day. Every time I see it and every time people ask at signings or meet and greets, people ask – it’s just a really special feeling and a cool responsibility.”
Busting his lip open during the match:
“I didn’t know. I thought I had just bit my lip or something. I had Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks, he goes ‘Bro, you gotta go to the hospital.’ I said ‘I don’t gotta go to the hospital.’ My wife had a 5 A.M. flight the next morning – so what was meant to be this real celebratory evening kinda turned out to be just business as usual. Hospital trip, snuck back into the room while she was asleep I was like (whispering) ‘Hey, I’m world champion.'”
Today’s professional wrestling industry:
“The business is just in this like, rapid – I envision it as being in this test tube and taking various shapes every hour and you can not predict it anymore. It’s because of guys – I often throw it back to the ‘Pipe Bomb’ promo of CM Punk, being this really defining moment for professional wrestling because it was the first time these streams really crossed. Some of the things he was talking about he had mentioned Ring Of Honor, and then I look at what The Young Bucks have done.
“They’re legitimately not needing WWE. Not being a fan of where they work as much as a fan of themselves as a talent and as a unit. That attitude is kind of caught like wildfire, it has made it the most fun time to be a pro wrestler and a wrestling fan because legitimately anything can happen. I am a free agent. I haven’t signed with Ring Of Honor but I damn sure like, love the Honor brand and I really treasure the responsibility of being its world champion.”
His father, WWE Hall Of Famer Dusty Rhodes:
“The coolest thing about Dusty, my father, is not that he was Dusty, it’s how he was as a father. He’s the type of guy who if you are homeless and came up to him on the street and told him ‘I want to be an astronaut,’ he’d say ‘Cool, we’re gonna get you in astronaut school then, that’ll work. How old are you?’ ‘I’m 47’ ‘Yeah, that’s fine you can be an astronaut.’
“He just – me and my sister were talking about this, almost not logical in his goal setting. He’s ‘The American Dream’ it’s part of his name. Dream is just how he raised is so for me I was very positive it would be positive. I had no clue it would end up like this. I really didn’t, you couldn’t have seen any of this. When we were talking about doing Bound For Glory, ‘Okay, we’ll do Final Battle, and we’ll do Wrestle Kingdom too,’ and in the same year we had done WrestleMania. That’s my favorite statistic is to not rely on brands themselves but to just rely on me. I was positive it would be positive but I had not idea it would turn out like this.”
ROH’s upcoming Atlanta event being the same day as Mayweather vs. McGregor:
“Oh wow. Well, I think you’ll be able to catch both because if we know anything about professional boxing, they will go on deep into the evening. But I have always said this as growing up in the wrestling industry and it being part of my family, when people make that argument about mixed martial arts (MMA), professional boxing, professional sports vs. professional wrestling, I always tell them you can always bet on us because we aim to leave you better off than when we found you.
“There’s always – a show is never left with you lacking. We always want to fill you up and have you ready for the next one, whereas, on occasion, I don’t know if you – I’m a Mayweather fan but if you saw the last Mayweather fight or if you saw the Pacquiao fight at least, it’s like ‘We can wrap this up at any point guys.’ Not with Ring Of Honor, and that’s why I put my bet on them.”
Watch Rhodes’ interview with FOX Sports: Braves at this link.
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions