Cody Rhodes Talks About The Stardust Character, Travelling With Brandi, Wrestling Outside WWE
Cody Rhodes was recently interviewed by IGN as part of promoting his appearance on "Arrow". During the interview, Cody talked about the Stardust character, working with Brandi and more. Below are a few highlights.
On the Stardust character:
"I think for me, internally, the entire thing was a comic book. In terms of psychologically thinking about it, I approached it like a symbiote, like Venom, taking over my initial persona. Especially since I'd wrestled for the prior eight years as myself and here was this drastic departure. I was treating it like this symbiote thing. That's what I would say to myself in my head. Then performance-wise, people know I was just stealing flat out from Frank Gorshin and Jim Carrey's Riddlers. I'd watch the scene where he blew up the Batcave and study how he moved around and just plucked some of that out in certain ways. In my mind, it was a mash-up of different comic book influences. 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. Comics and me go way back."
About Brandi branching out:
"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. She has a business savvy mind and because of her years as a figure skater, where she damn near became a professional figure skater, she has this athletic background. So it's the best to be able to show fans a different side of yourself and they hadn't been able to see that. So to be able to do what we did in TNA, and to be able to go out to shows together, it's wonderful. Someone took a picture of me at a show the other day where I was filming her like a soccer mom. She's doing great."
Wrestling outside WWE:
"I'm so lucky. Yeah, I wanted people to get behind me when I made the decision to leave. I really did. And I hoped they would, but when they slap your name on the marquee and people actually show up, it's amazing. 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. Somebody asked me the other day if I'd rather be back in WWE than this and, man, I didn't need to think about it for a second. I had one of the best matches of my career with Matt Cross and I'd never met him before, until that day. Wrestling will always be in my heart. I had a terrible travel day on Sunday. I slept three hours and then had to drive to the show. Almost had to put my tights on in the car. But once I was in the building, I was home."
You can check out the full interview here.
Source: IGN