During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport’s WrestleMania 38 Live Review Show, WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes revealed the one request he told Vince McMahon about the Stardust character.
Additionally, he commented on his departure from AEW, why it was difficult to leave, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his AEW exit: “Unfortunately, I can’t comment on the personal matter itself. Tony Khan, who I have genuine respect for and I hope history is really kind to because he bankrolled this entire grassroots movement starting in ROH, then All In happened, AEW happened, then he was able to buy that footage back. I felt like we were drifting apart. Had I asked him for ‘this,’ he’s the type of man that would have given it to me. It just genuinely felt like it was time, I can’t comment on the personal nature, it was nothing nefarious or scandalous, just we couldn’t agree. Nothing but respect for him, his family, and the infrastructure there. I have a watch collection that I just started. The first nice watch I ever got was from him. I gave him one last year as a return gift and I thought, ‘do I not pack this? Is this chapter over?’ I packed it because it’s never over. Part of who I am is from those ten years and part of who I am is from the last six as well. It’s something that I don’t know if he’ll ever share ultimately what went down, but it was nothing crazy, it was a rather easy decision.”
On the difficult part of leaving AEW: “Hard, and hard to explain, hard to explain to the fans, which we didn’t, and hard to explain to the talent. One week I was there, next week, Ricky Starks and QT (Marshall), bringing in bags and getting all my stuff out of the box and making the biggest scene they possibly could instead of being discreet as I asked them to and I was gone. My own brother, you think he’s going to text me, ‘I love you, I’m so proud of you.’ The thing he texted me that day was, ‘Can I use your locker room?’ True older brother fashion. Yeah, I guess, it’s not mine anymore. I had a wonderful experience there, and I feel the experience had maxed out. you never want to get into a situation where the love goes away. I wanted to keep the love. I know Matt, Nick, and Kenny…I don’t know if they sit in circles and hate on me or talk poorly about me, I hope they wouldn’t, but if they don’t know, I try to tell them on a regular basis, I absolutely love those guys. Instrumental. We did it together. I helped them, they helped me. I have nothing but love and it’ll always be that way.”
On his one request for his WWE contract: “There wasn’t any true guarantees. There was a request. I said I never want to ever see Stardust ever again, and I never want to hear it and talk about it. I never want to see it, and it was a handshake and that was all I needed. And the first thing I did in the match last night was a random Stardust reference. I thought, ‘What are you doing?’ You’re going back on your own strange requests. But other than that, it’s complex to get this all together, maybe one of wrestling’s biggest contracts, which I’m so flattered about. I’m like, ‘Gosh, I’m happy,’ and I have a child, so yeah.”
“But It was more a matter of, I don’t not trust people, right? It’s not that I don’t trust this person’s words or that person’s words. But at this point in my career, I do trust myself, fully, implicitly trust myself, so I know what I can do, and if given the platform to do it, I’m able to move on, I’m able to get over, and I’m able to get hopefully what I want, and that was presented to me on a silver platter last night. Nothing changed. Kingdom played. Wrestling has more than one royal family. This is a world where the term ‘wrestling’ isn’t said that often. So to hear that was a big give from them, and to be me, yeah, I trust me.”
(h/t – Fightful)
