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It was just my sense being on the ground, doing four unique independents a week and then finally seeing how, at the ROH event, fans react to us as a group. I really see the sport trending upwards.
I always looked at 'All In' with the perspective that it's about the present and future of the industry and not really about cheap pops, even though I'm sure they'll be plenty of those on the show.
When I wasn't wrestling, I got back into school a little bit. In Dallas, there was VIP Wrestling, and in Atlanta, AR Fox has a great school, so it's good to get back in there and continue to learn.
Whoever did my mo-cap for Stardust watched my very first entrance and nothing else, because I never did half the stuff ever again, and it's funny to watch. Well, hey, that's what they used, so yeah.
I'm not capable of being in a group where I'm not the leader. I did it once earlier in my career with Legacy, and that was cool because I was young and green and a rookie in the industry, but now no more.
As far as Dustin or Dusty, neither of them contributed to me wanting to be in the industry as far as encouragement. They didn't discourage it, but I think they both were indifferent as far as it had to be my decision.
Some people, they're seeking elsewhere, looking elsewhere. I love WWE, but this is the type of wrestling that I grew up on. And every week, it's bigger and bigger. And these shows are just getting more and more special.
Everything in the business is based around the idea of a World Championship. WWE, World Heavyweight Championship, Universal Title, the ROH Title, or the IWGP Title - they are all World Championships. The best of the best.
I was a referee in TCW in Carrollton, Georgia, doing Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, and it was 1,000 degrees in there, and it was completely sold out every Friday that we ran it. That was my dad's independent promotion.
There is something to not always reminding people of a show they've already seen, but instead embracing the one right in front of him. I am Cody, and I can promise you that the future is going to be even better than the past.
I think the yearning for a different product is really strong. WWE hasn't had any significant change since, what, 2001 in wrestling? WWE provides so much good content. Just good, wholesome content, but they're still the only one.
I had a habit of watching classic wrestling pretty much on repeat in the locker rooms. With the influx of talent at WWE, with guys like Kevin Owens, he was one of the first people to open my eyes up to the world that is PWG and BOLA.
My mother stayed at home and raised me and my closest sister, and that meant that the American Dream and what he was doing on television as a character and behind the scenes as a producer was producing for us at home, so it is your life.
A lot of the work I did with WWE had very strong comic book ties that were more than just a wink at the audience. There was a period of time when I had a clear protective face mask and a hood over my head that correlated with Doctor Doom.
When guys leave - whether they decide to leave or they're forced out - there's usually this period of time we see them around the world, and they can ride that WWE wave and use it, and then it goes away. It loses its luster after a few months.
A lot of times, guys leave WWE or get fired by WWE, but there's always that little bit of buzz right when they get out on the scene, but like all buzz, it fades. But I feel really flattered that, for whatever reason, it seems to be trending upwards.
The Bullet Club keeps New Japan Pro Wrestling in the black. Far in the black. Because of me. I'm a part-timer in that company, and I hold the Tokyo Dome merchandising record and Osaka's. Funkos. Bucks on a career run. This Bullet Club may never be topped.
I think I was always so resistant to coloring my hair because, you know, when my dad was still alive, it's so easy for a second- or third-generation wrestler to just copy their predecessor. The hardest thing you can do is try and carve out your own legacy.
I am the best in the world. It's 1: Cody; 2: Kenny; 3: Okada; 4: Charlotte; 5: Cena, with Ospreay creeping up on the list. It's my responsibility with the event to live up to that ranking. I am unbelievably good at this because of hard work and dedication.
The fans never gave up on CM Punk. If CM Punk wants to be part of 'All In,' he can be part of 'All In.' But I am not putting it on him to draw those 10,000 seats. If we did have CM Punk, we would not tell you we had CM Punk - unless we didn't sell any tickets.
I was really confident when I left WWE. I was confident that I would have a good time, and I was confident that I could wrestle differently than perhaps people saw me in the last few years with WWE, but I definitely wasn't prepared for this level of everything.
When you get a record attendance for What Culture Pro Wrestling - or just recently with Matt Cross, we did a record attendance for Next Gen in Tennessee. These are various brands. They're not rinky-dink. They're small - they're not WWE - but their soul is there.
Everytime there's an NXT show, people are like, 'Oh, that's the greatest thing I've ever seen.' It's the greatest show on Earth. One of things that they have going for them is the fact they make you wait. They build to it properly. That's a good way to go at this.
It's damn exciting that without the biggest wrestling company in the world, I'm able to build a brand and be successful. It's hard to stay on top of it. I had to hire a staff. It sounds so silly. I had to hire a kid to do social media work for me. It's really cool.
I had several decorated characters within the WWE that I was really proud of, coats of paint that changed that I could show a different side to the audience, because I've been in front of them since I was 20 years old, and none of them were necessarily the right one.
I'm looking at the belt on the top of the bag across from me, and it still hasn't fully hit me. There are multiple stages to all of this, but I know that every time I walk into a gym or go to a new locker room since I won the title, I've felt like the world champion.
One thing I learned from my old man is that people are going to be happy for you, but not too happy. When the tables are turned and you're hanging out on top with a guy like Randy Orton, who is in the main event at Wrestlemania, not all the guys are going to like you.
We've been very lucky with the 'Being the Elite' crew that everyone is very passionate about pro wrestling. There's no crooks in the group. Everyone's ideas are valued. And everyone who has something they pick and put on the map, they are fully going to commit to that.
I have this little, tiny Dusty Rhodes figure they make in Japan that people always give me in my bag. I set it next to the title and took a picture of it in my bag. That was my big goal in the industry. I wasn't able to achieve that in his lifetime, but he always believed.
I think one of my biggest attributes as a person and a businessman in wrestling is I'm very self-aware. There's a reason why I like all of the negative comments on social media. It's because I'm not delusional about my skillset, about my consistency and what I have to offer.
I loved WWE , but in the end, I was unhappy. It was just like planning an escape from a maximum security prison. I'd released a list of potential opponents online, so when the 90-day no-compete clause was up, I had matches booked on good faith. I thought about the follow-up.
I don't have the same knack for the business end that my old man did. Recruiting people has been tough. I don't envy anyone in that spot, especially some of the great non-WWE promoters like 'Evolves' Gabe Sapolsky, Beyond Wrestling's Drew Cordeiro, or Markus Mac at All Pro Wrestling.
Some kids like books, some kids like movies, but for me, every year I still go back and play 'Legend of Zelda.' So to me, when I got up to the big time, I thought that Zelda was my thing. CM Punk has a Pepsi tattoo, so why can't I have the Triforce? Gaming is huge to me; it's all I do.
One of the last things that my dad and I discussed, and it sticks with me today, is that he no longer believed in the concept of Good Guy/Bad Guy. He believed in the idea that one guy is trying to beat the other. However, he would say, 'You can be a Good Guy/Bad Guy, or you can just be a star.'
A lot of times when people are released or, unfortunately, get fired, they almost scramble for what it is they are going to do next. I think when you are no longer working under a big, corporate umbrella, you have to be your own brand, your own enterprise. That was my thought process before I left.
I think it's really exciting for me to see Brandi branch out. Because when you look her up and see her pictures online and see that she was this bikini model, it doesn't tell you that she's got a degree from the University of Michigan or that she attended the master's program and the University of Miami.
I just play it safe when it comes to television because it is WWE's intellectual property. But it is literally my legal name, like on my ID. My name hasn't been Cody Runnels since I was 17. But it's theirs. At no point would I ever want to go into a courtroom with a company I have love and admiration for.
I'm still the guy who shared the ring with The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Triple H when they were still actually active. And I'm aware, as my wife loves to hear. It's not different than any sport in the world where the best wrestlers are gonna get the best spots. That spot is for me, because I've earned it.
I just had the absolute best luck in the world in terms of meeting The Young Bucks, and they might look like wild little rock stars who are irresponsible, but they are business geniuses. They set up the deal with Hot Topic, and they're going to be the first 7-figure downside characters that New Japan Pro Wrestling has.
I love good balance, so being a collector is a fun little thing while we travel this world. I mean, every night, it's something else. The other night, I head-banged a dude on my rental car and drove him through the curtain in my rental car. So some moments are not as good as others, but they are all fun, that's for sure.
I love politics. It could be that, or it could be that my dad was always really big on, 'This is your job. You are going to work...' You know, it's really funny cause he was such a cowboy, and he doesn't like the concept of guys coming in like cowboys - unshaved and wearing flip flops - and stuff like that would eat him alive.
You go real long in this business, and then you have these light-bulb moments. I just had this fleeting moment of fearlessness and a moment of trust in myself that I'm not going to listen to anyone. I'm going to do it how I want to do it. And how I want to do is what people are going to want to see and promoters want to pay for.
To have a record crowd for What Culture, to be in there with Kurt Angle and not to be just, like, Kurt Angle plus garnish, for it instead to be Kurt Angle v. Cody Rhodes, our second match, actually - it was very vindicating. It's also nice, you know: the greatest revenge in all the world is success, so it's nice to be vindicated.
I worked for a big corporation for a decade for the majority of my youth. Now I really like the opportunity to essentially play my music on as many brands and stuff as I can, and Ring of Honor and Impact have been exceptional. They have been exceptional about that; there has been no pushback. It's all lined up exactly how we hoped.
Entertainment is changing so much because of the devices we have at our hands. I'm really proud to be on the forefront of that. You don't have to work one place. It's our generation. As much as we get knocks against us, we don't accept non-quality work in our entertainment. We're no longer force-fed. Wrestling is going through that.
I loved the idea that I had an alter-ego but that my true identity was very well known and very much on the surface. I was the only one who didn't know who Stardust really was. So it was very much tied to comics - everything I've done. I did a whole run where I'd wear a face mask when I was on SmackDown, and that was based on Dr. Doom.
At 15, I refereed my first match, and I was training at my dad's school even prior to that, so the only thing that I was concerned about - I guess the only thing that made me reluctant and was the reason I was in L.A. and the reason I went to acting school - was I thought maybe I wasn't big enough - physically big enough - to compete with WWE.