Many asked for it, Cody Rhodes even pushed for it -- there was an end game for the Stardust character.
Former WWE intercontinental and Tag Team Champion Cody Rhodes recently appeared on The Ric Flair Show and talked about several aspects of Stardust -- his stop-and-start character before requesting his WWE release earlier this year -- including a rematch with actor Stephen Amell.
When Rhodes was talking about his half-brother Goldust, real name Dustin Runnels, he admitted that the two never really bonded until Goldust returned to WWE in 2013. Their run together as tag team champions was the first time the two sons of Dusty Rhodes really got to talk with one another.
Cody, as Stardust, faced off against Goldust at WWE Fastlane in 2015 in a singles match and said that was going to be the end of their feud, not at WrestleMania of that year. But he did admit that he wasn't a fan of the match
"People don't realize that Dustin and I are 16 years apart [in age] and we grew up in completely different households," Rhodes said. "And, essentially, even though Dusty is our father, we essentially grew up with different fathers because of how Dusty was when he had Dustin and how Dusty was when he had me. With that said, the first time we really got like a real bonding experience in my entire life with Dustin was when he came up [to WWE] and we had our six-man tag match with The Shield at [WWE] Battleground (2013) and then after, moving forward after that, winning the tag titles and the run we had as Goldust and Cody Rhodes prior to the Stardust/Goldust, so I think watching him is incredibly motivating."
Rhodes even spoke about his vision for what the Stardust persona was going to be and the match with Arrow star Stephen Amell. The two had a match at SummerSlam 2015 where Stardust and King Barrett lost to Amell, donning ring gear similar to his television superhero counterpart, and Neville.
"Goldust is Dustin's character, so to be like a light version of him was probably a career nightmare and just terrible idea, perhaps, but the idea was when we got it was, 'okay, he doesn't have to be androgynous. He doesn't have to be Goldust. You can be a super villain!' [Rhodes responded], 'oh, okay, I'll be like Jim Carey [as] The Riddler and I'll find myself a superhero and then I had the match with Stephen Amell, who's on TV as a DC [character], he's the damn Green Arrow as an actual superhero.' So I was like, 'this is perfect!'
There were talks of a rematch between Stardust and Amell taking place at the Hell in a Cell 2015 pay-per-view, where the Stardust character would have ended. When that match did not happen, Cody said that he felt like the decision was a "kick to the balls."
"And I thought, 'well, there's kind of no end in sight and I don't want a fan, if somebody says, 'oh, that's Cody Rhodes' and they say, 'who?' because they know me as Stardust'," Rhodes said. "That would just break my heart, so that was part of my decision to peace out there at the end."
By Carlos Toro
h/t to Wrestlinginc.com for the transcript.
