Before Dusty Rhodes passed away in 2015, he was a coach at the WWE Performance Center and a father figure to many in NXT. At the time, Cody was still in WWE. Less than a year after his father's passing, Cody left WWE, finding success on the Independent scene before helping form AEW at the start of 2019.
Now, every Wednesday, AEW and NXT go head-to-head on cable. And Cody believes that if his father were still alive, he would want to be part of AEW.
"I think if he was around, even if he were working for NXT, he'd want to come work here," Cody said on AEW Unrestricted. "I think he'd really like it. I'm extremely loyal, to a fault. Hunter gave him that cushy one day a week job at the Performance Center, teaching promos where, half the time, they were watching movies and it was more like a life class, which is what promo class should be. It was a cushy gig, so I don't know if my mom would let him come work here, I think she would. He was really loyal, who knows."
After pondering the statement, Cody continued, "No.....that's the thing about him, many years ago he saw this terrible wrestling angle where basically it was an angle where someone who had passed away, they were trying to use him as part of the angle. I remember my dad telling me, I was only like 12, 'Please don't let anyone ever say I would have liked this. They don't know.' It's common knowledge, you can't talk about my dad. If you talk about my dad in a promo, angle is over. He aint coming back. You gotta talk about me. Chris Jericho didn't totally get the hint. I think he'd have to be here. It's Turner. It's the Rebel Alliance."
Cody will continue to pay honor to his father in AEW on Mar. 25 when AEW hosts its version of WarGames with the first-ever Blood & Guts match. Cody will team with his friends in The Elite to face The Inner Circle in the bout.
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