Cody in Ring of Honor (Photo: George Tahinos)

Following a near decade long run in WWE, Ring of Honor (ROH) Champion Cody Rhodes is currently having the time of his life away from the company where he first made his name.

The 32-year-old has become one of the most coveted wrestlers on the worldwide independent circuit, and has also begun competing for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).

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Known for his unflinching honesty, Rhodes spoke to Metro.co.uk ahead of ROH’s upcoming UK tour about life as a champion, what could have gone differently in WWE, and much more.

Cody, we have to start by asking how life is being the ROH Champion?




It feels good. It’s a cliche, but it’s good to be the champ. I wanted to be a world champion of some sorts since I got into the industry when I was 15-years-old, and I was able to do that.

I’m looking at the belt on the top of the bag across from me and it still hasn’t fully hit me. There are multiple stages to all of this, but I know that every time I walk into a gym or go to a new locker room since I won the title, I’ve felt like the world champion.

My understanding of the world title and what it means is consistency.

When you left WWE in May 2016 a lot of people doubted that you’d last long on the independent scene. Why have you been such a success?

I had seen a lot of people who had been released from WWE, or asked for their release, and gone out into the wild unknown. There’s more cases of it being unsuccessful than successful.

I knew I was unhappy in my heart at the end in WWE, and I had time to plan even though I knew it was going to be hard.

That time to plan is what made the difference and I invested in myself as a talent from the ground-up.

Cody (Photo: Oli Sandler and WCPW)

I got a concept artist to draw up some new gear and I got a publicist and a manager, but all this kind of stuff is nonsense unless you activate it, so everything I’ve had I’ve activated.

When I wasn’t wrestling I got back into school a little bit. In Dallas there was VIP Wrestling, and in Atlanta, AR Fox has a great school, so it’s good to get back in there and continue to learn.

As a team we have all been about what happens the next day. Yes it’s absolutely the coolest thing ever to win the world title, but now tell me what we’re doing tomorrow.

Your personality has really shined on the independent circuit, whereas in WWE it felt like sometimes you were stuck in a vacuum at times. What could have WWE done better for your character?



I honestly think the more time I spend away from WWE the less it was WWE’s fault and the more it was my inability to go with my guts. There would have been a big difference if I had done that.

And that would have meant saying no to a writer or correcting a few folks and maybe ruffling some feathers and stepping on some toes, but I can’t think of anything more important for a wrestler than to go with his gut.

Specifically in backstage segments and in interviews, no matter what, if you’re not feeling it, you can’t say it. There was only a couple of incidents in my WWE career where what I said on the microphone was all me, and they were my most successful.

It’s not a knock on WWE creative at all, they’re there to guide you and give you the bullet points of where it may be going, but they can’t script it. You can’t script wrestling.

Did you ever speak up? The stories go that if you complain in WWE you get punished.

I don’t recall at any point ever being punished for anything like that, but I do recall that when I did speak up for myself from time to time it didn’t make a difference.

Essentially the answer I would get was thanks but no thanks. I think I developed a reputation as a complainer and that’s hard to escape. You don’t want to be a complainer, you want to be someone who says ‘I don’t like this but here’s my alternative.’


I don’t know, maybe because I’m Dusty’s kid and I have a creative mindset that he gifted me a little of, almost every idea I ever got I thought I wanted to do something different.

I’ve told a couple of people this but I feel that I wish I’d played dumb a little bit more and just have fun and do what they say. My relationship with the creative team might have been better, because essentially if you’re telling them every week you want to do something else instead, you’re telling them they’re not good at their jobs.

Nobody wants to hear that.

Cody in action (Photo: Richard Wade)

People still have many complaints about WWE’s creativity – or more accurately, the lack of it. Where does the buck stop with this? Who should they be complaining to?

WWE is so powerful in terms of their world presence and the talent they have on board, so I think what’s going to happen at some point is that they’re going to restructure all of this.

There are some guys in WWE, Vince McMahon, Triple H, Michael Hayes, Arn Anderson and Mike Rotunda included, who should be writers but instead are producers.

I would hope at some point they will consolidate all of that, because if you were to get some of these megaminds in a room, you could write out two years worth of TV and stick to the plan.

Wrestling is not an episodic TV show. If you were to come into my office and say ‘hey I wrote 20 episodes of Friends and I want to be a WWE writer’, I’d say ‘that’s great but do you know who Lou Thesz is? Do you know who Bruno Sammartino is? Do you like wrestling?’


You’d be surprised at how many would say they’d never watched wrestling. That blows my mind, and if you were to shift the power to some of the greats in our business, you’d have a big difference.

What’s it like wrestling for NJPW in comparison?

I grew up really strongly aware of New Japan because my dad had an unflinching respect for Japanese culture.

He told me all about Inoki when I met him at Slamboree, and I had the respect ingrained in me. Upon my first meetings with NJPW and Tiger Hattori, it was like we were very much of the same mindset.

There was a lot of respect, but it wasn’t just that they were offering me dates to work, but challenges to present as well. I was told if I met those challenges it would be good for everybody.

Cody battles Jay Lethal (Photo: George Tahinos)

I like that, I don’t want to coast off the fact I was a WWE guy in the slightest. There have been plenty of WWE guys who did a few shows for New Japan and got the hell out.

The challenges will keep coming, and I’ve tried to make myself as available for NJPW as much as possible in 2018 because I think we have a future together.

You had a memorable match with Okada in Long Beach last month. What was that experience like?

That was a beautiful and fun thing to walk out and instantly know what they were into and what they were not.

They treated Okada like he was Steve Austin, and that was great, if a little shocking.

I was in my own country, but as soon as I walked in between the bogus Richard Nixon and Barack Obama and heard the entire crowd booing, I knew I was in for an interesting night.

As soon as I got in the ring I saw a guy in an American Nightmare shirt throwing me double birds. Then I didn’t know what to do! I was a little rattled at first, but it was really special.

You mentioned challenges earlier, and I know you have one in mind to headline a sold out independent wrestling show at a 10,000 seat venue. Do you still think that’s possible?

One of the cool things about what I’m currently doing in ROH is a lot of it is very real. I do feel that ROH was a company that had been 15 years waiting for their big break, and at the time I came in The Bucks were about to burst further than they ever had, and my reception was incredibly positive.

The buyrates and the merchandise followed, and the ticket sales reflected that. So when you get all those statistics, you can say look at us we’re so cool, or you can start to think about what we do next.

@davemeltzerWON do you think ROH can ever sell out an arena with 10k+ fans? Something like the Madison Square Garden? — WWE Guy (@TheWWEGuy_) May 16, 2017

Not any time soon https://t.co/Vu3xLV2ThZ — Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) May 16, 2017

I'll take that bet Dave I already gave them their biggest buyrate…put The Bucks & I on the card & 3-months to promote CC @ringofhonor https://t.co/kDUqDqYdtL — Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) May 16, 2017

And that’s where the 10,000 seat arena comes in. I do genuinely believe if we can work it out with all the people at ROH and find a 10,000 seat arena, with the talent we have, we can fill it.

I’ve seen exactly why we can on the shows I’ve been part of.

You’ve had some back and forth with wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer on that very subject, who is a little bit more cynical than you! What do you think about Dave, do you get on?

Historically in my dad’s era they grew up not liking Dave, and it’s funny because I’m a guy who loves the past in our industry and be old school when I can, but I just like the guy.

He critiques wrestling, and he often doesn’t critique my matches highly, but for whatever reason I respect the fact that he loves wrestling just as much as I do.

He gave me a great gift in San Francisco about wrestling in that territory with Ray Stevens and that was really nice, and I want him at every show. I think he keeps guys on their toes and I also think he keeps people responsible.

Cody pinning an opponent (Photo: Richard Wade)

In this era of public information about company sales tickets, buyrates, shirts and also the general consensus about how the crowd feels, nothing is better than that full transparency, and Dave keeps people on their toes.

That only makes talent and companies work harder. You can’t just say it was the greatest show of all time if Dave was sitting in the front row because he’ll tell you what it was. That’s unique.

I’m fairly certain growing up how I grew up in the industry I’m not supposed to like Dave Meltzer, but I do. I think he’s groovy, his relationship with The Young Bucks is really special to watch, and if he needed someone to have his back in a fight, I’d randomly show up for Dave.

Finally, you’ve achieved a tremendous amount in your first year away from WWE. What does the next 12 months look like for you?

After everything with Okada happened, I looked at the landscape and saw that there are a lot of benefits to wrestling Japanese stars, especially the incredibly skilled ones. It helps to test me, and I’m all about testing me.

I would hate if I failed any of these tests, so I think you’re going to see a lot of interaction between myself as the world champion and some of NJPW’s key stars.

For 2018 I hope that we put our money where our mouth is, and the Bucks and myself continue to grow ROH. I am not exclusive to ROH, but I am their champion and I do love the promotion and the production they put on.

I’m all about putting more and more eyes on it. I don’t believe in competition any more, but what I do believe in is choice.

It’s been a very hot run, it can continue to climb the hill or it can start to head down, so we’ll see.

With all the ways to watch wrestling now, it’s more accessible than ever and it’s the best time for fans. I want to be on as many of those screens as I can be and keep the run going.

Ring of Honor return to the UK later this month.

August 17th – RevPro Summer Sizzler 2017 @ York Hall – London , England

August 18th – WOTW UK Night 1 @ York Hall – London , England

August 19th – WOTW UK Night 2 @ Liverpool Olympia – Liverpool, England

August 20th – WOTW UK Night 3 @ Edinburgh Corn Exchange – Edinburgh , Scotland

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