WWE superstar Cody Rhodes made an appearance on ESPN Radio‘s Keyshawn, JWill, and Max show. He discussed his Make-A-Wish charity work, his WWE schedule, and other topics. Below are highlights:
On his work with Make-A-Wish:
“What WWE does with Make-A-Wish and the efforts that are made in terms of not just a specific superstar meeting a young kid, it’s the whole group. WWE pretty much involves everyone. It’s kind of this whole gauntlet of you meet this guy, you meet this guy, you do this, you do that, and then you get to meet your superstar. I am honored to be part of that. What John (Cena) has done in terms of number of wishes, surpassing even Michael Jordan, is absolutely surreal. To even be in the same air and the same conversation is really special because it’s not, you know, we list all those titles and all that wonderful stuff. You guys know the real stuff is something like what John has done in terms of Make-A-Wish and having a lasting impact and being able to do something special. So it’s just an honor to be part of that group.”
On dealing with the WWE schedule and travel:
“The schedule is, it can be very daunting. It’s a gig that you have to really, really love and your family too. If you’re someone who has a family like myself, my wife, and my daughter, that love, everyone has to know about the passion and about the sacrifice. I am very lucky in a sense that I have my own tour bus and that’s where I’m comfortably at right now. I’m very lucky because after 10 years of driving all over the roads with four wrestlers in a car screaming at each other trying to get food at two in the morning, I’m very lucky that I’m in this position. It’s tough, but I’ll say this. The trade off for what we do is so worth it. WWE, every city lately is one sell out after another and there’s been this really special thing that’s happening with our product, which is always popular, but right now it’s even on a different level. So that’s the trade off. Tonight I could be as tired and grumpy as possible, my body may be a little banged up, Brock Lesnar threw me all around last week, but still like, you walk out in front of these crowds and you can’t just be rejuvenated. It’s amazing, so for me, it’s a great trade off.”
On carving out his own legacy:
“Well, I think a big secret that there is when it comes to second or third generation wrestlers, and honestly this trickles down to any athlete that you’re your parent came before you and did something great, is the thing you don’t always say is, yeah, I want to honor them. I want to honor my mom or my dad but also you want to be better than they were, and not in like a negative way. You want to take it a step further. For me, winning the Royal Rumble, you mentioned, you know, my dad passed away in 2015 and it’s so unique that he’s not able to really see it, but I feel like he’s still here with me of course. But to be able to do some things that he never touched, and I mean Dusty did everything. So to be able to win the Royal Rumble, to go to WrestleMania, and be the main event of the biggest thing that’s ever involved the wrestling ring since the turn of the century, I’m blessed. I’m lucky, but I’m still on the hunt. You mentioned SummerSlam, tonight, Buffalo. I’m excited because hopefully I’m gonna get to talk about what I’m going to do at SummerSlam, but still on the hunt to find my own legacy because that’s the tricky thing when you’re in these families is you want to look at everybody on a different page and say, oh they were different. They did this. He was different. He did this. That’s my way of honoring them is trying to be better than both dad, brother, and you know, that’s certainly a struggle because they laid out a great path.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
