Cody Rhodes On Nixed Rematch With Stephen Amell Leading To Stardust Being Dropped, Goldust Feud
Recently on The Ric Flair Show, Cody Rhodes talked about his relationship with his brother, Dustin, whether a match between the brothers was ever supposed to be a WrestleMania bout, and when Cody was supposed to drop the Stardust character.
Interestingly, Cody admitted that he and Dustin only started to really bond when they worked together in WWE three years ago.
"People do not realize that Dustin and I are 16 years apart [in age] and we grew up in completely different households. And, essentially, even though Dusty is our father, we essentially grew up with different fathers because of how Dusty was when he had Dustin and how Dusty was when he had me. With that said, the first time we really got like a real bonding experience in my entire life with Dustin was when he came up [to WWE] and we had our six-man tag match with The Shield at [WWE] Battleground (2013) and then after, moving forward after that, winning the tag titles and the run we had as Goldust and Cody Rhodes prior to the Stardust/Goldust, so I think watching him is incredibly motivating."
According to the former member of Legacy, there were never plans for a WrestleMania match between Stardust and Goldust and their match at Fastlane was supposed to end their feud.
"It was never intended to be a WrestleMania match. Fastlane (2015) was it. I was in the ladder match in [WrestleMania 31] for the Intercontinental Championship. I had been informed as such. No, it was never meant to be beyond Fastlane. The way I look at it, Fastlane was a total dud. It was a total dud and people think, 'oh, well, the finish got screwed up'. The finish didn't get screwed up. The match just sucked and it's just one of those nights where I kick myself to this day about it."
During the interview, the man behind Stardust shared some insight into his character. For one, the character was supposed to be a comic book super villain come to life rather than a watered down version of the impeccable Goldust character. Also, a second match between Stardust and actor Stephen Amell was pencilled in for Hell In A Cell, but the match was scrapped. The match was supposed to blow off the feud between the two and allow the once 'dashing' performer to drop the Stardust character.
"Goldust is Dustin's character, so to be like a light version of him was probably a career nightmare and just terrible idea, perhaps, but the idea was when we got it was, 'okay, he doesn't have to be androgynous. He doesn't have to be Goldust. You can be a super villain!' [Rhodes responded], 'oh, okay, I'll be like Jim Carey [as] The Riddler and I'll find myself a superhero and then I had the match with Stephen Amell, who's on TV as a DC [character], he's the damn Green Arrow as an actual superhero.' So I was like, 'this is perfect!'
"And then, there was supposed to be another match. We had practices scheduled and we were going to be at Hell In A Cell and that match was supposed to be the end of Stardust. It was supposed to be, 'if Stardust loses to The Green Arrow, he'll return as Cody Rhodes'. And when that didn't happen, that was one of the first, the first, kind of kick in the balls for me because [Flair] said something to me on the bus and I don't know if [he remembers] it, but [he] mentioned that, I'm not going to say it because [he] said it to me, but basically [he] had said that I had outgrown the character. And I thought, 'well, there's kind of no end in sight and I don't want a fan, if somebody says, 'oh, that's Cody Rhodes' and they say, 'who?' because they know me as Stardust'. That would just break my heart, so that was part of my decision to peace out there at the end."
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Source: The Ric Flair Show