Cody Is No Longer "Runnels" On "Arrow", John Cena And Ted Dibiase Jr. Note, PROGRESS - WWE
- As noted, Cody Rhodes will be appearing on the third episode of Arrow later this month. ComicBook.com has an article here noting that CW has updated their synopsis for the show. Rhodes is now referred to as a "wrestling star" as opposed to a "WWE star." Also, the name of his character on the show has been changed from Garret Runnels (his real-life middle and last name) to Derek Sampson. No reason has been given for the name change. You can check out the original and updated synopsis for the show below:
Original:
"WWE STAR CODY RHODES BRINGS THE SMACKDOWN TO STAR CITY ? Now that Oliver (Stephen Amell) has his new team, they are ready to hit the streets but Oliver doesn't feel they are ready. Headstrong Wild Dog (guest star Rick Gonzalez) defies the Green Arrow's orders and sets out on his own after a new drug dealer, Garret Runnels (guest star Cody Rhodes), who is terrorizing Star City. Runnels proves more powerful than Wild Dog and it is up to the Green Arrow to go head to head with Runnels to save his teammate."
Updated:
"WRESTLING STAR CODY RHODES BRINGS THE SMACK DOWN TO STAR CITY ?Now that Oliver (Stephen Amell) has his new team, they are ready to hit the streets but Oliver doesn't feel they are ready. Headstrong Wild Dog (guest star Rick Gonzalez) defies the Green Arrow's orders and sets out on his own after a new drug dealer, Derek Sampson (guest star Cody Rhodes), who is terrorizing Star City. Sampson proves more powerful than Wild Dog and it is up to the Green Arrow to go head to head with Sampson to save his teammate."
- WAPT in Jackson, MS has a story here about Ted Dibiase Jr. and some independent wrestlers presenting a replica WWE championship belt to an 8-year-old cancer survivor at a recent independent show. After being presented with the belt, the boy was shown a video message from John Cena.
"As you know, the words I live by are 'never give up,'" Cena said. "Sometimes in the WWE, things get tough. No matter how tough they get, keep fighting. The reason I go by never give up is because of people like you. No matter how tough times get, you always keep fighting. Thank you for being an inspiration to me. Hopefully, I'll see you around soon. "
- Rob Leigh interviewed PROGRESS co-founder Jim Smallman for talkSport, which you can read here. PROGRESS drew 2,400 fans in London last week for one of the biggest UK wrestling shows in decades. During the interview, Smallman talked about working with WWE for the Cruiserweight Classic.
"It all came from a phone call from William Regal," explained Jim, who emphasised that the association between PROGRESS and WWE is "tiny". "[NXT on screen manager and talent scout] Regal is a friend – he spends most of his time bullying me about Phil Collins – but he is a friend and someone I've worked with a lot during his excellent stand up tours over here and I get on really well with him, regardless of what he'll tell you.
"When WWE comes calling and goes 'we like what you do', that's an amazing pat on the back. And then when they offer an opportunity that offers more eyes on our product, obviously we're going to go: 'Absolutely, yes!' We've been very lucky in that they seemed pleased with the CWC matches we put on for them."