Cody Rhodes took part in a media conference call on Tuesday ahead of AEW Dynamite’s debut on the TNT Network tomorrow (Wednesday) night. When he was asked if he can still use the “Rhodes” last name, he said he could but isn’t planning on doing so. You can check out some highlights from the call below:
On Using The Rhodes Name: “I can use it. I won’t use it though. That’s not everyone’s favorite answer, but I got the rub off that name plenty. The reason I don’t use it is this – this isn’t the romantic Game of Thrones answer that everyone wants, but the reason I don’t use it is, I got so used to being ‘The American Nightmare’ Cody in Japan, and I love that. I love the idea of trying my damnedest to get a single name over. I got the rub off of Dusty and my family long enough. I don’t mind not using it. You’ll see it every now and then, some people, they already know, so if it’s here, it’s here, if it’s not, it’s not. But by no means is WWE holding that name hostage, that is not a real thing. If I was to walk out tomorrow as Cody Rhodes and announced as Cody Rhodes, nobody’s gonna sue us, nobody’s coming after us. There’s a lot of respect between the families that are involved here. So, no. I just like using my first name.”
On Bashing WWE NXT: “Well, I know that my father was rather instrumental in bringing the developmental brand up from the OVW-like situation or the FCW situation that I was in as a trainer, and making it more of a brand. You’ll never hear me disparage NXT. There’s a locker room full of my friends over there and literally if any of you have done the Performance Center tour, you’re going to happen in front of my dad’s boots. I think Kenny was just having a bit of fun and it was something much in character that’s been going on with Being The Elite. I have nothing but good things to say about the developmental brand, and their success they’ve had, and their continued success.”
On Different Match Types: “Well, you mentioned War Games and I’m kind of sitting here thinking to myself. I’d really love to just buy it back and I wonder if they’d be willing to let me just buy it back, because Dusty came up with the match concept, on a napkin in the parking lot. Arn Anderson was there, I’ve got a witness. The one they do now isn’t truly loyal to the old school rules of it. Maybe I can get it back. But the beauty of that – War Games just came out of the experience of being around wrestling, seeing the Four Horsemen build-ups, seeing the good guys and their adversaries, and all of a sudden the light bulb went off. Hopefully a match comes to us the same way. We started with the Casino Battle Royale, which was Nick Jackson’s idea of doing almost a layered Royal Rumble, and I think with the women’s one, which was far superior to the men’s one, I think we got the formula for that right. I would really hope that we come up with some great match-ups of our own. I could always steal from my dad but come on, he wouldn’t be proud if I was just yanking all his ideas. I do have the Bunkhouse Stampede on lock-down, if and when we need to, also Battle Bowl, if and when we need to. But I know among us, especially Tony Khan, who seems like he’s coming up with a different match concept every day, I know we can come up with something original. Maybe we float that out, though. Float that out to WWE, see if we can buy War Games.”
(h/t WrestlingInc.com)
