JUST two years ago, Cody Rhodes was lost, caught in the shadow that catches so many next-generation wrestling stars.

Being the son of Hall of Fame great Dusty Rhodes obviously had its advantages; but left unable to break out into the main event scene of WWE after almost a decade, he had a choice to make.

Cody chose to leave the only wrestling company he had ever worked for and venture out onto the independent scene. And it was the best decision he ever made.

Two years on, Rhodes is one of the brightest stars of the second-biggest wrestling company in the world, New Japan Pro Wrestling.

He and other non-Japanese stars like Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks and Will Ospreay are helping the company break through outside of its home country, and are a big part of why New Japan is embarking on a four-date tour of Australia this month. Rhodes will feature in the main event of the Sydney show on February 18.

The poster for the New Japan Pro Wrestling Fallout Down Under tour. Source: Supplied

“It’s a pretty measured choice, that New Japan decided its second international show wasn’t going to be in the UK or Europe or South America, that it was going to be in Australia,” Rhodes told Foxsports.com.au.

“And I think that has really sort of energised the whole crew — all of us, the whole roster, wanted this tour. A lot of guys personally made sure that it happened. I’m expecting New Japan at its best, four nights in a row.”

But Rhodes wasn’t always this excited about his job.

Many fans clamoured for him to be given an opportunity in the main event scene of WWE at times, but that never came to pass.

He doesn’t blame the company for that, or for his departure back in 2016. At that point Rhodes says he “wanted to be able to play my music how I would play it”.

“In WWE, you’re always given the opportunity,” he said.

“They have such a large brand — you’re on the (WWE) Network, you’re on YouTube, you’re on USA Network (the US TV home of Monday Night Raw), you’re on so many platforms. I just think it didn’t feel right. I don’t know what specifically.

Rhodes as Stardust in WWE. Source: Supplied

“Maybe I just wasn’t meant to do Stardust as long as I had done it, so it didn’t feel right. I remember putting some concept art together for what I would look like as just Cody Rhodes, as just Cody, the wrestler.

“And it really just appealed to me in such a way that if I couldn’t do it in WWE, I thought well, I’ve saved my money, I know a little bit about the game, I’m going to go and do it on my own and see how I do. And it ended up being the best decision I’ve ever made.”

So off he went, into the wild world of making his own bookings with independent companies. Ex-WWE talent is often in high demand — wrestlers like Rey Mysterio are able to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year picking and choosing where and when they want to perform.

But early on, Cody — who is now known as just that, because despite his dad’s long run as Dusty Rhodes, mostly outside of WWE, the company owns that last name (although cheekily, he and his wife are often referred to as Cody and Brandi Rhodes) — wasn’t being too selective.

“I had a schedule like 1980s Ric Flair. Just a dumb schedule. Just arduous,” he said.

Dusty Rhodes, at his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, has his hands raised by sons Dustin (left, best known as Goldust) and Cody (right). Source: Supplied

“The problem was I was so used to driving from town to town to town, like you do in WWE because you do your ‘loop’ in circumference of where TV is going to be filmed.

“These independent shows, I was getting on a plane every morning and flying cross-country. Sometimes no shower. Taking a red-eye from San Francisco to make a show on the other side of the country, or even to get to the United Kingdom.

“I went straight from my first Wrestle Kingdom (major New Japan show) to the airport to fly to the UK for a What Culture Pro Wrestling show. So I wanted something, and I think I found it in Ring of Honor and New Japan, so I started slowing down.”

Eventually Rhodes signed a full-time contract with Ring of Honor, arguably the second-biggest wrestling company in the United States (Impact Wrestling being the other candidate, but their various issues make them hard to pinpoint financially). ROH works very closely with New Japan, allowing him to wrestle in both companies frequently.

The key breakthrough came when Rhodes joined the Bullet Club, the hottest faction in professional wrestling.

The group, first featuring current WWE stars Finn Balor and Karl Anderson with Tama Tonga and former rugby union player Bad Luck Fale, has grown into a merchandise-selling, hand-sign-waving tour de force.

Rhodes with the other members of Bullet Club — Nick and Matt Jackson (the Young Bucks), Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll and Hangman Page. Source: Supplied

Even WWE shows are full of fans wearing Bullet Club T-shirts, which were the hottest selling product at US pop culture store Hot Topic last year, showing their mainstream appeal.

That success has given Rhodes and the rest of the group the opportunity to control their own storylines at times — something rarely seen in the wrestling world.

“It’s total freedom. And I don’t think it’s fear. I don’t think that New Japan and Ring of Honor are afraid of the Bullet Club, they’re aware,” Rhodes said.

“Particularly Being the Elite — they’re aware that it’s only a good thing, because it’s a platform for talent to succeed.”

Being the Elite is the group’s weekly YouTube TV show, which has grown from a group of guys doing something because they thought it was funny into a must-watch program that actually advances major storylines.

After the most recent major New Japan show for example, where Rhodes turned on Omega, the story continued online.

It’s so successful, Rhodes revealed to Foxsports.com.au, that the group is in talks with a number of companies who are interested in purchasing the show’s streaming rights.

Cody Rhodes with wife Brandi at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in the Tokyo Dome. Source: Supplied

“It’s kinda gotten out of hand. We were just having a conversation about this. We’re probably going to have to do what all other shows do and have production meetings,” he said.

“It went from being a bunch of funny ideas to hey, now we have things we have to follow. We have threads we have to pull. The thing Being the Elite does, whether it’s really silly or really serious, when it tells you something is going to happen, it happens.

“Case in point — Kenny Omega and I butting heads. It was gonna happen, Being the Elite told you it would, and then it did.

“That’s really important and now with Matt and Nick (Jackson) leading the Being the Elite charge and several companies talking about purchasing it and streaming it, I think you’re going to see a longer Being the Elite and a better Being the Elite.”

Being the Elite even was where the group chose to announce a match between Rhodes and Omega for this April, which has been building for 10 months but has been planned for even longer.

“I’m not capable of being in a group where I’m not the leader. I did it once earlier in my career with Legacy (with Randy Orton in WWE), and that was cool because I was young and green and a rookie in the industry, but now no more,” Rhodes said.

“After a world title run you can’t really call someone else your leader. And I think that is this natural tension, that very really exists, because here he (Omega) is with this reputation of being the best wrestler in the world and here I am with that mainstream appeal that helped gain a bunch of new fans for the Bullet Club.

Rhodes will face Kenny Omega at Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans on WrestleMania weekend. Source: Supplied

“And the fact that I think Matt likes me more, and Nick likes Kenny, it’s all real. So why not have a match? Why not make it real?”

As seen there, Rhodes is blurring the lines somewhat between the character and the man.

That has been a key to the success of many wrestlers in recent decades. Megastars like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and The Rock claim they found their most famous characters by turning their own personalities up to 11.

Rhodes — now almost always in a suit, and carrying the air of a 1980s wrestler who lived and breathed the gimmick — is now emerging as someone like that.

“I think some people think it was more of a decision than it really was. It basically came down to, that’s how I’ve been the last four or five years anyway,” he said.

“‘The Professional’ was a nickname I garnered in the WWE locker room, because that’s who I was. Ric Flair is a great model of that professionalism and that travelling champion so I think the parallel is a wonderful one, given that Ric is the greatest of all-time.

“So I think it’s less about perception and more about reality; it’s really who I am.”

The next 12 months will be big for Rhodes. He and the Young Bucks are trying to prove wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer wrong by selling out a 10,000 seat arena for a show they’re putting on called ‘All In’.

They’re taking on all of the risk with that show, putting in all of the money to fund it — thus the name — but Rhodes wants more than just that success this year.

“All In is a huge part of 2018 but also finding that next accolade,” he said.

“I had the world championship (in ROH) and now (winning) the IWGP Heavyweight championship, or the IWGP United States championship, that would be something I think I could do really well with and it’s a match made in heaven to see the US title on an American.”