"In 2013, Rhodes (who admits to having no love for the IC title's previous appearance) revealed that he himself paid for the belt to be redesigned, while also adding that he ended up getting reimbursed for his considerable purchase..."
Jul 3, 2020
The Cody Rhodes we see today represents change as one of the faces of All Elite Wrestling, the strongest start-up that the American wrestling audience has seen in close to two decades.
Rhodes has come a long way in the four years since he requested his WWE release, betting himself to do better than his secure-but-unsatisfying lot with the sports entertainment giant. Those who thought Dusty's youngest son would fall on his face are surely surprised at where he stands here in the year 2020 - the reigning TNT Champion, of course, having toppled the dominant Lance Archer back at Double Or Nothing in May.
As "The American Nightmare" helps lead the way for pro wrestling's promising powerhouse, let's learn a little bit more about Pharoah's proud papa...
The Cody Rhodes we see today represents change as one of the faces of All Elite Wrestling, the strongest start-up that the American wrestling audience has seen in close to two decades.
Rhodes has come a long way in the four years since he requested his WWE release, betting himself to do better than his secure-but-unsatisfying lot with the sports entertainment giant. Those who thought Dusty's youngest son would fall on his face are surely surprised at where he stands here in the year 2020 - the reigning TNT Champion, of course, having toppled the dominant Lance Archer back at Double Or Nothing in May.
As "The American Nightmare" helps lead the way for pro wrestling's promising powerhouse, let's learn a little bit more about Pharoah's proud papa...
Even if his famous last name is absent from his current professional handle, much ado has been made of Cody Rhodes' wrestling relatives. When you're the son of "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, and the half-brother of Dustin Rhodes, those sort of connections will receive plenty of mention, whether or not they find a place in on-screen storylines. While the Dusty/Dustin/Cody triumvirate has been well established, the truth is, Cody has *other* relatives in the business, and we're not just talking wife Brandi.
Cody has two uncles who, in the early 1990s, held Tag Team gold in WWE, both of them brothers-in-law of Dusty. One would be Nasty Boy Jerry Sags, and the other Fred Ottman, the superheavyweight who portrayed Tugboat, Typhoon, and, yes, The Shockmaster. Additionally, Magnum TA, one of the most promising stars of the 1980s prior to a car accident ending his career, is a godfather to Cody. Being Dusty's son, you assume so much wrestling would permeate through your life, and apparently, that includes family barbecues as well.
Like many modern wrestlers, Cody is an avid video gamer, and in his days as Stardust, appeared on the internet series Up Up Down Down, where he played the Star Wars Battlefront Beta alongside Xavier Woods. He's even incorporated video game imagery and designs into his wrestling attire through the years, including wearing Metal Gear Solid-themed gear at ROH's Final Battle in 2018. Going back earlier in his career, Rhodes was apt to pay tribute to his favourite video game series.
Look closely at his ring boots at certain points, and you'll see the Triforce artefact from the Legend of Zelda games. He even has the Triforce symbol tattooed on his ring finger, and spoke excitedly in a June 2019 interview about the forthcoming releases of Link's Awakening and Breath of the Wild, which hopefully don't distract him from his day-to-day administrational work at AEW. He also claims to play Super Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on an annual basis, a pilgrimage of sorts to one of his childhood faves.
Numerous stars in the industry possess some form of athletic background, be they former football players, gymnasts, or some form of martial artist. In Rhodes' youth, his sport of choice was wrestling, the non-sports entertainment kind. As a teenager at Lassiter High School in Marietta, GA, Rhodes seriously pursued the sport, and his success in wrestling was set to open doors for him, should he have chosen to continue down that path.
As a sophomore, Rhodes finished sixth place in the 171-pound division. A year later, in the 189-pound division, Rhodes captured the Georgia state championship, and even repeated as champion in his senior year. The sport continued to beckon Rhodes, who admitted in a 2009 interview with San Jose's Mercury News that he was going to attend Penn State University, but changed his mind when he decided to enter into pro wrestling. Rhodes does credit his wrestling background, understandably, for giving him a vital foundation that has served him well in this business.
There seem to be quite a few second and third-generation wrestlers who've shared tales of how their famed fathers tried to steer them away from wrestling when they expressed interest, realising what a difficult business it really is. Cody Rhodes was no exception, revealing that Dusty wasn't too keen on the prospect of Cody following in he and Dustin's footsteps one day, preferring that his youngest boy make it in another world.
And for a time, Cody did try something different with his life. He looked into becoming an actor, and for a year in the mid-2000s, attended the Howard Fine Acting Studio in Los Angeles. Rhodes revealed in a 2016 interview that Fine still keeps in touch with him, and has continued to help him with acting tips and nuance in his time both as a wrestler, and in his occasional acting appearances, such as on the TV show Arrow, where he worked alongside one-time wrestling nemesis Stephen Amell.
As a teenage boy, Cody sometimes refereed matches for his father's short-lived Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion, which ran shows in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee from 2000 to 2003. This role gave Cody a valuable education in the construction and progression of wrestling matches, though he wouldn't begin formal training as a wrestler until a few years later. While one might assume that Dusty would have a greater hand in Cody's physical training, Cody admitted that it was other individuals who guided him in that area.
There are four specific men that Cody credits as being his wrestling tutors: then-Ohio Valley Wrestling owner "Nightmare" Dan Davis, his eventual successor Al Snow, Robert Gibson of the Rock n Roll Express, and Cody's future Legacy ally, Randy Orton. The last name is a bit surprising, since this would have been around the time that Orton was in his earlier years as a headline talent on Raw and SmackDown, but Rhodes does attribute part of his wrestling education to "The Viper."
Rhodes made his wrestling debut in May 2006 for Ohio Valley Wrestling, where the then-20-year-old lost to Pat Buck, a man that eventually co-hosted a podcast with Ryback, and helped train Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Rhodes work with a number of familiar faces in developmental, an opponent's list that included future Rhodes Scholars partner Damien Sandow (then known as Aaron Stevens), The Miz, and Deuce and Domino. It was from the latter duo that Rhodes won his first belt ever, OVW's Southern Tag Team titles, alongside another familiar face.
On October 18, 2006, Rhodes captured the gold in Louisville alongside the man who 13 years later nearly caved his head in with a steel chair, Shawn Spears. The pair's history has been alluded to in their AEW storyline, and Rhodes' first taste of wrestling gold indeed came alongside the future Tye Dillinger. Rhodes and Spears had a split in early 2007, leading to a series of gimmick matches that summer, including those of the Lumberjack, Strap, and Steel Cage variety, with Rhodes winning the rivalry.
Like many people who leave WWE, Rhodes hasn't been shy about giving his candid thoughts about his tenure with the company, and with nine years of experience on the main roster, the thoughts and memories are aplenty. In the three years since he's been out of WWE's auspices, Rhodes has made a number of interesting revelations, and one that he made on the Straight Shoot podcast months after his exit is quite curious.
According to the former "Dashing One", in two different years, Rhodes was told he would be winning a Money in the Bank Ladder Match, only to be informed on the day of the event in both years that he was no longer getting the win. In the interview, Rhodes doesn't specify the years, so among the four matches he participated in between 2010 and 2013, you're left to speculate. Was his lengthy 2011 IC title reign a make-good for getting hosed in that year's Ladder Match? Was he supposed to win instead of Damien Sandow in 2013? We may never know for sure.
The 2011 Hell in a Cell pay-per-view was a decent, if not generally average, pay-per-view, mostly forgettable if not for one notable moment: reigning Intercontinental champion Cody Rhodes replacing the 13-year-old ovular version of the belt with a white-strapped version that resembled the classic version of the belt in many respects. Makes you wonder why WWE changed the design on the belt earlier this year, doesn't it...
In 2013, Rhodes (who admits to having no love for the belt's previous appearance) revealed that he himself paid for the belt to be redesigned, while also adding that he ended up getting reimbursed for his considerable purchase. He believed the nod to the classic look would get a reaction, and he was right. His only regret is that white is the only colour used for the straps, and it's hard to disagree - anyone who doesn't like the classic IC belt with the black strap cannot be trusted, and should be removed from your life immediately.
"A f**king space clown". That's how Cody Rhodes summed up the role he played for his final two years in WWE, in which he appeared to be some unholy combination of Goldust and Paul Stanley. For the mannerisms and speech, Cody either channelled Frank Gorshin's portrayal of The Riddler, or Repo Man at his absolute most unhinged, while periodically hissing like an irritated house cat. Suffice it to say, the two-year run wasn't exactly the strongest of Cody's career.
Rhodes revealed the person who came up with the Stardust character: Stephanie McMahon. According to Cody, it was at the Gorilla position one night that Stephanie blurted out, "Why don't you paint your face like your brother?", and the Vince lit up like a Christmas tree out of excitement. Cody was unsure, but after seeing some early sketches of possible costume designs, he grew excited himself about playing a superhero-type character. But when Vince kept choosing designs that made Cody look like a travel-size version of Dustin, his enthusiasm waned. F**king space clown, indeed.
Since leaving WWE in May 2016, Rhodes has gone on to hold two recognized World titles: the Ring of Honor World title upon defeating Christopher Daniels in June 2017, and the NWA World Heavyweight belt, after going over on Nick Aldis at All In in September 2018. The latter belt was worn by his father three times between 1979 and 1986, and certainly, it meant the world for Cody to have carried the same belt as the greatest mentor he's ever known.
While father-and-son wrestler combinations are plentiful, the Rhodes' became only the second father/son duo to each win a recognized World title in the United States. The first to achieve that feat were Fritz and Kerry Von Erich, with Fritz holding the AWA World title for about two weeks in 1963, and Kerry holding the NWA belt for a few weeks in May of 1984. The Dusty/Cody connections continue on, as, like his father, Rhodes helps oversee a major wrestling promotion with a Turner TV deal, and enthrals fans in old-school-style bloodbaths. The son-of-a-son-of-a-plumber bet on himself three years ago to do something more ambitious with his time in wrestling, and as we speak, he's only continued to top himself.
