Cody Rhodes On Being Free Of WWE, How It Was To Work For TNA, Kurt Angle, WWE Exclusive Contracts
Cody Rhodes spoke with Wrestledope.com before his spoken word show in Cork, Ireland. You can check out the full interview in the video above, they sent us these highlights:
Being free from WWE:
"The feeling, the sensation behind it is, it's exciting to cherry pick and select and be your own boss and to be in control of your own brand, however it's a lot of work."
Wrestling Kurt Angle in UK:
"To have a record crowd for What Culture, to be in there with Kurt Angle and not to be just like Kurt Angle plus garnish. For it instead to be, Kurt Angle V Cody Rhodes, our second match actually, it was very vindicating. It's also nice, you know, the greatest revenge in all the world is success so it's nice to be vindicated."
British Wrestling stars working in the United States:
"In America, we have "The British are coming!", when it comes to the Revolutionary War but I always equate it to the current situation with guys like Will and Marty [Scurll] and Zack [Sabre Jr.] where they are literally like invading America with their talent and the effect and the ramifications of that so it's cool to come over here(UK)".
Exclusive contracts in the business:
"I understand why not. But there is a lot of dated minds and a lot of old school mentality. It's like were almost reverting to the most traditional which is just a dang handshake like, 'Hey I'm glad to be here and I'm going to give you my absolute best.' I worked for a big corporation for a decade for the majority of my youth. Now I really like the opportunity to essentially play my music on as many brands and stuff as I can and Ring of Honor and Impact have been exceptional. They have been exceptional about that, there has been no pushback, it's all lined up exactly how we hoped."
Impact backstage environment:
"My experience was the utmost engine operating at peak efficiency. Billy [Corgan] and Dixie [Carter] were extremely wonderful. All had feedback, creative input. My experience from the time I went and filmed with the corvette in Nashville to when I left the tapings to come overseas was wonderful."
Working with Billy Corgan:
"I'm passed the concept of, Oh he's not a wrestler, he shouldn't be involved in wrestling. He is an entertainer and they fall in line. An entertainer with a ton of equity, worldwide experience, proven. It's Billy man, he's famous!, he's a rockstar!. I thought he was wonderful, great for pro wrestling. He had some music made for me and didn't know I wanted to use my other music. That was one of the hardest moments of perhaps my life. To see his face when I heard the music and know that I'm going to ask him to use my other music. Especially someone who is a musician. It's a moment frozen in time. Me and Billys' relationship I want to build off that moment to where we are good buds because that was a tough one!."
Leaving WWE:
"I did make every effort I possibly could. It just was a matter of, no faith in me at a certain juncture turns around well you know what I don't have faith in you guys either. But let's not end on such a sour note. It's rather dramatic and seems more sour than it really is. It't not, the Rhodes in WWE have a wonderful history. I'm glad they let me go, they are the house that built me and you never now I might be there again one day".