#TFGInterview: Cody Rhodes Shares his experience At BOLA, Addresses TNA Rumors, and more
IT TAKES GUTS to take a leap of faith and Cody Rhodes showed just that when he decided to walk away from WWE this year. After spending a decade in the promotion, Cody now finds himself in the independent wrestling scene where he managed to put together some excellent matches already.
And the best part is; this was just the start. The 31-year-old has lined up even more exciting ventures going forward and apart from wrestling, he will be making a big step into the television scene as well by guest starring in the fifth season of ‘Arrow’.
The Fan Garage’s Renjith Ravindran recently managed to catch up with Cody for an exclusive. In the interview, Cody talked about his experience at BOLA, rumors about TNA, his acting roles and much more. You can read the interview below:
His experience at BOLA
Pro Wrestling Guerilla and Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA) was magical. I mean it really was. Tommaso Ciampa describes Reseda as the Disney world of professional wrestling and he is very accurate. It’s worth the gamble of getting the tickets and checking out in Blu-ray. It’s unlike anything else in wrestling. It’s a building that people talk about and they talk about how dingy it is but the atmosphere sounds like a hundred thousand people.
Wrestling inside and outside WWE
I was with WWE for 10 years and that was kind of all I knew. I don’t know really, with how WWE is now with NXT, there isn’t much difference, there is some travel distance and there are some little things like no guard rails, smaller venues but the soul of it is pretty much the same. The heart of it all is wrestling.
About the TNA Rumors
Rumors and speculations are wonderful for professional wrestling. I had written a list during my non-compete period and some of those names are in TNA. I cannot confirm that I’m doing anything with them and they cannot confirm that I’m doing anything with them at this point but if your name was on the list, I’m going to make an effort to get the fans to see the match. TNA has some wonderful homegrown talent like EC III, Mike Bennett. I mean, I’d like to see those matches happen.
The thing that excites him most about the future
The thing that excites me most is Final Battle at The Hammerstein Ballroom, December 2nd for Ring of Honor. I never expected to be in a Ring of Honor ring but at BOLA, In fact I was able to see Adam Cole and kind of got the idea of what they do at Ring of Honor. They are weighing out opponents for me and when they announce it, it’s going to be huge.
I’ve never been at The Hammerstein Ballroom. It’s a great atmosphere that we wrestling fans want to experience. We’ve seen ECW and Ring of Honor there; WWE has been there a few times. It’s an arena that I want to get into and I’m really looking forward to that.
Acting roles
I hope people are happy with the Arrow Episode. It is 3rd Episode in the fifth season. I’m proud but at the same time, it is a trial by fire. It’s a good character and I would love to do more acting. Especially in the television, films kind of intimidate me. But TV, it kind of reminds me of what I used to do with my former employer. So you can definetly expect more acting roles from me. I’m currently my own boss and I have the time to balance wrestling and acting. So I’ll be looking into that.
How often he meets up with Dustin
Twice a year. I love my brother but we are 16 years apart so we didn’t see each other a lot when I was growing up. The most we saw each other when we were the tag team in the WWE. Today, with modern technology there is no excuse for not catching up with your family. We talk in every few weeks. I don’t get to see many of my friends, to be frank.
Wanting to face Matthew Riddle
I have so many guys outside WWE that I want to work with. I’ve worked with almost everyone inside the promotion. Matthew Riddle was there at BOLA and I really want to test my mettle against him for sure.
The importance of creative freedom for a wrestler
If you are creative, then creative freedom is a great thing for wrestlers. If you have the inmates running the asylum with wrestling, eventually the wrestling show will be difficult. You know, people have egos and everyone want to be number one. But at the end of the day, you get praise and criticism for what you do in the ring no matter who helps to put it together. That is an area where creative freedom of the wrestler really matters. One should be able to go out there and confidently make decisions. And not be just doing what you are being told and not just be a yes man.
Kevin Owens winning the WWE Universal Championship
Kevin is a buddy of mine and I’m very glad that Kevin was able to reach the paramount there. I don’t watch WWE currently and I don’t have much context here. But I’m very glad because he works very hard. His son is very excited. It’s cool to see a true family man and Kevin is a true family man.
The possibility of coming to India
I never had the opportunity to visit India. I missed the tours that WWE had. I think the opportunity for me to come and wrestle in India is wide open. I’ve talked with a few people about this and hopefully we could figure out something and actually do it.
