ROH and New Japan's Brandi Rhodes spoke to Ring Rust Radio recently. You can check out the full podcast at this link, and the submitted highlights below:
Ring Rust Radio: On Wednesday, January 17 at 10 p.m., you make your debut on E! Network’s hit show WAGS Atlanta. How were you initially approached with this project and what can wrestling fans expect from you on the show?
Brandi Rhodes: I was actually just sought out randomly. They got in touch with my management about a Skype interview to be considered for the show which to me, I thought a Skype interview, they must be in the very early stages of casting for this. So, I thought this was cool, sure no problem. I did my Skype interview with the casting it went well and then a week later had a contract sent to me, so clearly they were not in the beginning stages of casting, they were at the end stages of casting and they just needed one more person. So that’s how I ended up being that ninth girl.
Ring Rust Radio: After spending so much time in wrestling, how has the transition to working on the set of WAGS Atlanta been and have you enjoyed the experience?
Brandi Rhodes: Working on WAGS is obviously very different than working on wrestling television. It’s very different in the way that there is not nearly as much to do for WAGS. More of it was just kind of being my natural self. We go to different places and have different situations and we talk about different things. However, it’s very much just me being me and offering my opinions and things like that. They are very, very different, but it’s nice to have something different to kind of break up the norm of what I’m used to doing on television. It was a lot of fun to get to film some different scenes and try different things out. I would say the most fun that I had is the things I got to do with Cody. We were just are usual selves and people got a chance to see how we are and it was just a lot of fun for sure.
Ring Rust Radio: You were primarily utilized as a ring announcer and backstage interviewer in WWE, but now that you're wrestling and also managing Cody, how do you believe those experiences in WWE helped prepare you for what you're doing now?
Brandi Rhodes: That’s a really good question nobody’s asked me that yet so kudos to you. The one thing that makes this, I don’t want to say easier because the learning curve is huge and I’m still making my way here. I would say watching from ringside for so many years and seeing so many different things and watching all these different stories play out, I understand what you want to see. That doesn’t mean I can do it always or accurately, however I understand what people want to see and understand what needs to happen where and when. A lot of people, you would be shocked, this isn’t the most natural thing to understand but it’s one of those things that has helped me so much. As far as putting matches together, when someone starts to say something I would say, you wouldn’t want to do that because it doesn’t make sense and then they go, “Oh yeah, you’re right, how did you know that?” Then I tell I’ve been watching for so long. I just know if it doesn’t fit or it’s out of place, I remember sitting at ringside and looking at the person sitting next to me saying, “What?” It’s just helped to kind of ingrain in my mind what things should look like for a fan and what just make sense.
