Cody Rhodes On Watching His Competition Closely, Earning The Best Spots, Process Of "All In"
Cody Rhodes spoke with ESPN on watching other wrestlers closely, "All In," and earning the best spots on wrestling cards. Here are some of the highlights:
Getting through the process of putting together "All In":
"I don't want to complain about it because I've had my whole career to get to this position, and now I'm in it. The last thing I need to do is complain. A couple sleepless nights, a couple extra checks written — that's why I surround myself with such a great team. I'm an independent pro wrestler, but I've got a manager, I've got an agent, I've got a publicist, I got the three best dogs in the world, and I have the best woman on earth. If I didn't have Brandi, none of this would be happening. I'd still be putting that Stardust suit on, doing Jim Carrey Riddler."
Getting the best spots because he's earned them:
"I think fans of mine who are already on the bandwagon, God bless them, thank you for being there, but I think this is a great jumping-off point if you're looking at what is Cody Rhodes. I think I've proven the naysayers wrong about, 'Oh, he's just ex-WWE,' and the new set of naysayers, 'Oh, he can't compete at this level.' I can compete at any level.
I've been doing this since I was 15 years old. Every time someone told me I couldn't, I did. I'm still the same guy who's responsible for one of the better Intercontinental runs of all time and changing that title. 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."
Watching his competition closely:
"I always tell my wife this and she hates it — I'm very aware. As far as, I don't want to get jealous. I don't want to watch two guys go out there, absolutely tear the house down and get jealous. I want to look at it and [ask], 'What are they doing right?' There have been many matches, and Kenny knows this, where I've sat at the curtain, not at the monitor in the locker room, where I've sat at the curtain.
I watched his G1 final against Naito last year, I've watched every single Okada match. You have to look at him, and he's a competitor. If you really strip the curtain back he's a competitor in the sense where, 'I want to be better at this than you are. I want to be the guy in the spotlight. I want to be the guy waving the banner.' That's the real competition of wrestling. So I like to look at that very aware and say, OK, Kenny is an absolute athletic marvel as far as his cardiovascular goes in that ring, his ability, his unparalleled strength — I think the strongest guy I've felt besides him is Cesaro. You look at those things and [ask yourself] how can you compete with him."
Rhodes also discussed his match against Okada. You can check out the full interview by clicking here.