Cody Rhodes recently appeared as a guest on the Dale Jr. Download podcast with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, “The American Nightmare” spoke about Dusty Rhodes’ famous “Hard Times” promo, Dusty teaching promo class in NXT and his own promos.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On Dusty’s famous Hard Times promo: “There are so many great wrestling matches, I love going back and watching full matches. Most of the time, the memories and moments we’re connected to, aren’t an actual match. Dusty, for example, Hard Times, the promo he did, that’s typically what most people will bring up and talk about and get into. They’re not actually talking about the match that it referenced. I remember, but a good chunk of fans connected to the promo.”
On how Dusty taught promo class at NXT: “My dad used to teach promos at NXT, he never called it promos, he called it communications class. I got what he meant years in doing it. His idea of communicating was connecting. You can do something really cool, a high spot, flips and crazy athleticism, but if they don’t care about you, it’s like watching fireworks. You did it, we’ve seen it. He had the ability to make them care about him or at least dislike their opponent. That’s the most important thing. I have a wrestling school now, and that’s my favorite day. That’s so important, and a lot of people today don’t want to work on it. I understand. You see what you see on TV and guys doing this athletic stuff, but it’s not something people want to work on all that much. I have gotten into the habit where I overwork on promos.”
On his promos lack the soul his dad’s did, but that’s okay to him: “In WWE, there is a lot of structure and brain trust. There’s a writer, a voice memo, and we go back and forth. Then there are legends backstage who will chime in and have an idea. I’ve been very lucky that people like these interviews and moments. They’re very different from Dusty’s. There’s not the ‘soul’ that Dusty presented, they’re almost a political campaign element to how I do an interview. They have to be. I can’t be him.”
Check out the complete interview at DirtyMoMedia.com. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
