Cody Rhodes was recently on Sam Roberts' podcast and talked about a number of topics, including his thoughts on the seeming prevalence of intergender wrestling in some independent companies.
One popular indie star who has made his bones getting his butt kicked by women in small arenas all over the world is Joey Ryan. On the most recent episode of Lucha Underground, he lost his first round match in the Cueto Cup Tournament to Taya Valkyrie. It's kind of Joey's thing. But he doesn't just wrestle women; he's also faced Cody on two separate occasions--matches that Cody enjoyed. Cody says it's his conservative southern upbringing that makes the thought of fighting a woman almost incomprehensible to him. But he does say that if someone offered him a match against a woman, he'd have to consider it, simply because of the challenge it would afford him.
"Joey Ryan, the wrestling that Joey does is offensive to me. I have, however, wrestled him twice and loved the matches and loved the challenge. Intergender wrestling offends me; however, if someone was to offer, I don't know if I'd say 'no' because that's the challenge. We can't be stuck in one mindset.
... Just the concept of a man touching a woman. I don't know. I'm very conservative. I don't know. I'm from the South, so like you can't put your hands on women. However, a lot of women in those matches, want those fights."
Intergender Matches don't exist in the WWE, where Cody got his start and spent the first decade of his career, so jumping to the indies, where such matches are common, might have been a shock.
You can listen to the full podcast at this link.
