In a recent interview with Fightful, Cody Rhodes revealed his rule for adding moves from other wrestlers to his arsenal.
Rhodes stated that he can ‘steal’ another wrestler’s moves if he wrestles him five times. The American Nightmare said,
“Booker T, in the corner. Jerry Lynn also does it. I’ll do the spin over into a sunset flip. My rule is, if I wrestle you more than five times, I can do all your stuff. It’s only my rule, and people hate it. I love the Cody Cutter. I think it’s better than an Os-Cutter, but I did get it from Will, so fair play to Will, who’s super talented. Beyond super talented. If I’ve wrestled you more than five times, I told Jay Lethal this once, and he hated it. He’s like, ‘No, wait, no, no, that’s not how it works.’ I can do your stuff. It’s just my rule, and I’m waiting for someone to be like, ‘Hey, please don’t.’ But hey, I like to sponge. Part of what we do is, I got to lean into being a Rhodes, so I can do these Rhodes things. I got to lean into being part of the indie revival. I got all that, and I’m lucky to have been part of it. So I sponge off as much as I can. The Booker roll, which Jerry does as well, there’s a couple of Arn Anderson things that I do that are hard to visualize. It’s all someone else’s. I just try to put into a Nightmare package.”
During a media call to promote the WWE NXT Great American Bash 2023 pay-per-view event, Shawn Michaels weighed in on Dominik Mysterio’s current run as NXT North American Champion. He said,
“It’s an interesting situation for him. He was literally thrown into the deep end pretty quickly. He’s been around this line of work his entire life. That much he was used to, the environment. Once you get out there and filling the shoes that he’s trying to fill, it’s a pretty daunting task. There is almost no way for people to live up to the legacies of their fathers. Some do, but it’s very tough. Any child of any WWE superstar, I get reminded from mine, and they’re not even in the public eye, ‘Hey dude, it ain’t easy being your kid.’ I can’t imagine what it’s also like to have to go out there and perform in front of the WWE Universe and trying to fill your father’s shoes. Dom has done a wonderful job at that. He’s had to do it on the big stage. This is a great reprieve and opportunity for him. Clearly, he’s still out there doing main roster matches and out there on the main roster, but he’s allowed to come back here. We’ve had a few talks. I want him to be able to take the time and work on some of those things he feels he needs to work on or to try things. I want him to have perhaps a little bit more freedom down here and a little looser structure if he’d like to try stuff, and see how it works. Also, find out who Dom Mysterio is going to be, separated from his father. I’ve talked with him a great deal about coming down here and trying to work on anything he feels he needs to work on, anything we see he needs to work on. That’s what all of us do. We never talked about it much and there wasn’t as much information when I was doing it as there is today, but all of us, every time we’re in the ring, we all talk about reps. We all got better with people that were better than us. The business is always evolving, you’re always wanting to grow as a performer. I took advantage of every live event that wasn’t televised because I knew that’s where I could try something new and see if it was going to work and be ready for television. We want Dom to come down here and take advantage of those opportunities as well. He’s doing a great job of that. He’s a very mature, respectful, and professional young man at such an early age. Rey and his wife did a fabulous job. He understands and respects this business, a very mature young man who has had a lot thrown on him, but he’s done a fantastic job thus far.”
