Friday, March 29, 2024
NewsCody Rhodes Reacts To Ricky Starks Being Backstage At The 2023 WWE...

Cody Rhodes Reacts To Ricky Starks Being Backstage At The 2023 WWE Royal Rumble PPV

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WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes recently spoke with The Daily Mail to discuss a variety of topics, including the transition from working for Vince McMahon to Triple H.

Additionally, Rhodes addressed the photos that surfaced online of AEW wrestler Ricky Starks being backstage at the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.

You can check out some highlights from the interview below:

On the transition from working for Vince McMahon to Triple H: “One of the really nice things was the amount of communication. It’s already a downtrodden, melancholy situation when you’re injured and you’re on your couch. This happened very quickly, I’m not really up and moving and I’m not hitting the weights, I’m not in that process of getting near coming back. At the time when the transition happened, I wasn’t even close to coming back and I was communicated with every step of the way. I was communicated with by Vince and by Triple H. That was very nice. I was never left in the dark on anything and obviously, these are different visions, they change.

My transaction needs to be simple. I don’t need to be caught up in whatever is happening behind the scenes. Those stories can be fun but I need my story on the screen to be the more important story. For that to happen I need to be at the very best. Best as a superstar, best as a wrestler because then the other stuff will come. You wont have to worry about does he like me, does she like me, do they like me. It’s the best I could be, was the best I could be. I did not notice any elements of the transition that were chaotic, everyone communicated with me and as a wrestler in his prime and also a veteran wrestler that makes you feel very wanted and very needed. It filled me up and gave me confidence in my rehab.”

On the Bloodline and Sami Zayn storyline: “I love that you bring it up that these stories are running parallel, I think sometimes wrestling fans think it’s got to be one or it’s got to be the other, whereas I subscribe – and I’m not in charge – I subscribe to give them everything. That’s where it really takes smart planners and creative individuals on how you layer it, but it’s very important and this is something I learned when I was away, is that if someone’s doing great, and they are entertaining and helping move that ship forward – and I would say Seth Rollins is another example on Raw. He was another when I was gone who’s really changed and continued to carry Raw on his back. I was fully expecting these things to converge, and I’m still expecting them to converge just because we have these wonderful options.

With all the respect in the world to one of the GOATs, The Rock, it looks like the options we have here within the roster are even better because of the stories that are happening. One story about finishing something that started in 1978 – seven years before I was even born – and another story of really the tragedy of being welcomed into the Bloodline and then what you saw unfolds. I think with the amount of time between now and WrestleMania, it’s important I keep my eyes squarely fixed on WrestleMania, squarely wrestling for the WWE Undisputed Championship and as you hinted that may not be against Roman Reigns. Now I don’t know if anyone can beat Roman Reigns, I truly don’t, but for me, it’s about picking up the chip. I love the melodrama, I love the heaviness in these stories that develop in our industry, but I am very simply a man who’s looking for a belt. I’m looking for a championship title belt, the most important one in our world the biggest in all – not just in the WWE bubble but in all the bubbles – and be the first to say as a Rhodes I did it. And it wasn’t Dusty Rhodes and it wasn’t Dustin Rhodes – it was Cody Rhodes.”

On Ricky Starks at the Royal Rumble: “What an idiot though! The locker rooms do have crossovers, people are married to people in other locker rooms, people are friends. This is a kid I started on his journey at my former home and I obviously want to follow and see his journey, but I will say it’s probably best none of my friends visit me at the shows anymore. We don’t need security cam footage of that poor dude, I hope he didn’t get into any trouble – and I don’t think he did. He was there to support a friend, who had been absolutely down and out with the pec injury.

Ricky was one of the guys that nursed me through it, and helped remind me of who I can be, so I was happy to have him there and I had some other friends there but the other friends stayed on the bus because they’re not crazy yayhoos. Maybe we’ll just watch each other at a distance, I don’t want to cause any strife between any places. We all love the same thing, it’s a squared circle, it’s the wrestling industry. I always think I don’t have any rules, they are rules!”