Cody Rhodes spoke with Justin LaBar of the Pittsburgh Tribune to promote the WWE Monday Night RAW TV taping on November 30th. Tickets for that event goes on sale tomorrow.
In this interview, Rhodes spoke about the passing of his father, Dusty Rhodes. Here are the highlights.
Cody, can you say whatever you would like to say about the passing of your father, Dusty Rhodes?
What a bad summer for sports entertainment. When you lose The Dream and you lose “Hot Rod” (Roddy Piper). These are not arguably, just genuinely, in anybody’s top five or top ten. The word used now is they are icons, and there’s very few true icons of the industry. I was and I feel like I still am, very close to my dad. I haven’t really let him go. It’s hard when you see a ring, and I think about all the times you saw him in it. It’s great though that you ask, because the Dusty Rhodes tag tournament taking place in NXT is something he would really be proud of because of all the platforms it gives to talent, including independent talent that came in for a shot to win the Dusty Rhodes tag tournament. I will actually be there myself, (as) me — for the first time a while on WWE programming — Cody Rhodes and my brother will be there to present the trophy, which I’m looking forward to seeing. I had some help in preparing it for whomever is victorious in said tag team tournament. It’s a great way to honor him, and I think we continue to honor him. WWE just put it all out there. A lot of families lose a loved one and they don’t get the chance to see video packages and tributes. They have to do all that themselves and put it together. It was done for me, and I’m forever in their debt for that.
A lot of fans wanted, speculated and were curious that we would see Cody Rhodes return to WWE programming after the passing of Dusty Rhodes. I didn’t think we should, in the context of what they wanted, but that’s just my own personal opinion. What’s your reaction to that?
It would have been tacky — would have been tacky, and it wouldn’t have been genuine. Many years ago, I used to watch RAW with my dad, and we watched Nitro, and we watched the pay-per-views. Many years ago, there was a wrestler who passed away, and his name was used pretty regularly after that on programming. People were using it to try draw the adulation of fans. Everyone was saying, “Oh, well such and such who passed away would have loved this.” And (my father) told me, and this is something very few people know, “When I go don’t ever let anybody say that about me. I left my body of work on the table already and it doesn’t need to be expanded.” And I never forgot that. So there was never any question on who was coming back.
Do you have a favorite Dusty Rhodes promo?
I do, but I don’t share or talk about it only because it’s kinda mine. There’s one in particular, though. I always get a kick out of it —when you think of making something out of nothing — if you look up the cold-blooded sausage maker, but that’s more for a laugh.
You can read the entire interview here.
