Cody Rhodes On Which NXT Star Is "The Greatest Human Being Alive," When He Will Retire, More
On episode 328 of The Art Of Wrestling, independent wrestling star and professional wrestling podcasting pioneer Colt Cabana welcomed former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes to the show. Among other things, Rhodes discussed when he may retire, falling back in love with professional wrestling, and the curious case of Tye Dillinger.
According to Rhodes, he is planning to retire from professional wrestling at the age of 40. The 31 year old insinuated that he does not want to become a nostalgia act.
"I used to always say, 'I'm done at 40. Like, that will be it. I will never wrestle again after 40.' Yeah, I'm feeling I still will stick to that. Yeah, I don't know why. That's just the number I have in my mind. Yeah, the number is a real thing. The reason I have the number is I grew up around old wrestlers and it was really cool to see the people respected and loved them for the nostalgia it brought; however, it was also not cool to see them old and having to hurt themselves and I don't want that life." Rhodes added, "they get older, but only in this wacky world is it that they're still booked and I get why. I get it. The nostalgia, but if I was running an independent show or running a brand of my own, I definitely, if I had any of the legends in, there wouldn't be any physicality."
Also, during the interview, Rhodes admitted that he moved out to Los Angeles, California to get into acting, but he hasn't gone to a single audition because he has fallen back in love with wrestling.
"I just moved to L.A. I've been in L.A. for, I've been in L.A. long enough that I should've gone on a few auditions. That was the point. I haven't gone on a single audition. I've just flown out of the airport to go all around the world and do wrestling because I'm fully back in love with wrestling, like, fell hard for it, like, literally teary-eyed at all these events. I fell hard for it."
On the subject of Tye Dillinger, Rhodes seemed perplexed as to why 'The Perfect 10' has not taken his talents to WWE Monday Night RAW or WWE SmackDown Live by now, a sentiment echoed by many other professional wrestlers and fans of the genre alike. Rhodes claimed that he wants to tweet things in support of Dillinger, but thinks better of it, given his current standing with WWE.
"Greatest human being alive. Still in developmental. He's in developmental. I'm afraid of? all the time I want to tweet stuff about Tye Dillinger and I'm afraid if I do, someone will be like, because I'm not in the best graces with the office currently, I'm afraid someone will be like, because of my love of him."
While Dillinger has not done anything to land him in WWE's doghouse, Rhodes theorized that the former Shawn Spears may have too much of a "Canadian vibe" for the office.
"I'm not sure. He [has] never done anything to my knowledge. The mystery of Tye Dillinger." Rhodes added, "we were talking about this earlier off the record. We were talking about the Canadians. I don't know if he kind of has a Canadian vibe and that makes somebody at the office? and 'Canadian vibe' does not connote anything negative. But if it makes someone in the office upset with him, whatever."
Rhodes also professed that his father, Dusty Rhodes would always write in his reports that Dillinger is ready for the main roster.
"If a guy already had it, he didn't spend a lot of time on them. Daniel Bryan is a great example. Barely kind of blew Dan off too. But in his reports, wrote, 'this guy's ready – what can I do?'" Rhodes continued, "that's the Tye Dillinger report from his fifth year in developmental. And, literally, that was what my dad always wrote about Tye, 'what is he still doing here?'"
Finally, Rhodes suggested that professional wrestling fans should support Dillinger by cheering him on at live events.
"The mystery of Tye. It's a mystery. I think the only way to fix it is to every time you go to these events, like fans who go to NXT events, you need to give him everything because he'll give it back, man."
Click here to check out the interview. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Art Of Wrestling with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Art Of Wrestling