Aron Stevens reflects on teaming up with Cody Rhodes.
In 2012, Stevens, then known as Damien Sandow, joined forces with Rhodes. The duo formed Team Rhodes Scholars and rose to the top of the tag team division, as they won the WWE Tag Team Championship Number One Contender's Tournament. Throughout their time together, Rhodes and Sandow were involved in a number of memorable matches and segments.
However, they failed to win the gold, and they split up in 2013. Sandow turned on Rhodes during the Money in the Bank match, and they went on to feud with each other, leading to a match at WWE SummerSlam 2013.
In an interview with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, Stevens looked back on teaming up with Rhodes. He stated that they were the best partner each other had, as far as business was concerned.
"Cody said this, and I’ll say this, as far as business goes, we were the best partner each other had in terms of, ‘What are we doing today? Do we have to be the Midnight Express?’ ‘Cause that’s essentially—and we would always joke—that’s what we were. We were the bumping, feeding, heat getting heels. That was our role," Stevens said.
Stevens went on to describe how it's important to have a contemporary moveset. He stated that it's important to keep it fresh. The veteran noted that if he does return to the ring, he knows he has the ability to make the place explode. Stevens then emphasized that working with Rhodes was fun.
"But here’s the thing, but we could. We understood how to do it. With a lot of people I’ve seen today think — and I’m not knocking anyone that works hard. You gotta have a moveset that’s contemporary. You always gotta keep it fresh. If I go back in the ring, if I ever go back in the ring, I’m gonna have to do it. It’s just common sense. However, guess what? I can do that and I can do that for 20 minutes and I can keep people’s attention. That’s the thing. 20 minutes, when the finish of my match happens, I’ll have that place explode. It was a lot of fun working with him," Stevens said.
During the interview, Team Rhodes Scholars' segment with The Rock came up. The duo confronted "The Great One" on the January 11, 2013 episode of SmackDown. The showdown led to The Rock slamming Stevens with a Rock Bottom and hitting a People's Elbow on Rhodes. Stevens briefly noted that they talked to The Rock a little bit beforehand. He also stated that he and Rhodes were very good at creating moments.
"We talked to him before a little bit, but no, Cody and I were just like, ‘Alright, this is what we’re doing.’ We rode together and stuff like that. It was like, ‘No, this is what we got today.’ Our SummerSlam match was a lot of fun. We had so many, you go back to moments, right? Him and I were very good at creating moments. We were entertaining, but we also got it done. That’s it, right? That’s the name of the game," Stevens said.
These days, Stevens is featured in NWA, and he manages Blunt Force Trauma (Damage and Carnage).Meanwhile, Rhodes is one of the top stars in WWE; he won the 2023 Men's Royal Rumble and headlined WrestleMania 39.
Stevens recently discussed NWA's philosophy. Click here to see what he had to say. You can see NWA 75 this weekend on PPV or live in St. Louis at the Chase.
