All Elite Wrestling star Cody Rhodes, one of the company’s four executive vice presidents, will be in a mixed tag match with partner Red Velvet against NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal and Jade Cargill on the March 3 episode of “AEW Dynamite” (8 p.m., TNT). Before stepping into the ring, Rhodes took time for some Q&A with The Post’s pro wrestling writer Joseph Staszewski.
(Edited for clarity and length)
Q: What kind of impact do you think Shaq can have for AEW when you have someone of his notoriety and just the curiosity of people in what Shaq might be as a wrestler?
A: The power of Shaq, when you have one of these like very, very iconic all-American brands it can’t be understated. The only thing I know about as far as (audience) penetration and just absolute sphere of influence, the closest thing I could think of is Snoop Dogg himself. For me, that’s really, really exciting. It’s actually a big part — not my wrestler job — it’s a big part of the other job (EVP) because if we build this and they come for this Dynamite, March 3 with Shaq, I hope they love everything that he does and they love everything that we do, but perhaps find somebody who they wouldn’t have known if this is their first foray into wrestling that they fall in love with as well who’s not in our match. That’s one of the beautiful things of the rub of and the power of somebody like Shaq.
Q: How did this come about? Was it something he approached you guys about or was it something you approached him about?
A: What happened is really what fans saw. He tweeted about me (in August 2020) and didnt, I don’t think, particularly know me. He just knew he had a show on TNT and we had seen each other at the upfronts and “Dynamite” was kicking ass and I think he chose an in-house professional wrestler to pick on. And I didn’t think much of it other than, you know, us wrestlers, we love when we see the blue (Twitter) checks, we love when we see people talking about our world.
Then the next you know, QT (Marshall) calls me like half a year ago, so this is a while ago. He called me and said, “Hey, I just want to make you aware of something.” When that’s how he frames it, I know it’s going to be something about the Nightmare Factory. He said, “I just want to make you aware of it that Shaq came in and started training. I said, well send me a video, I’ve got to see it. He’s done a good amount of training with QT with a couple bodies there that he can throw around and things of that nature.
Right at that moment, I knew we were into an area where this could really, seriously happen. We really jumped on it in the best way we could. QT is really technically responsible for that. He and (AEW president) Tony Khan because he and Tony have a great relationship as well. It kind of willed itself into existence like so many other things in AEW.
Q: How long has Shaq been training for?
A: I don’t have a lot of interaction with him. I know when he trains it’s very long. They put in over two hours. They go from the weight room to the ring and two to three of our better guys bump around, training themselves and want to be there. They’re there almost all night. I’ve never trained with him. He’s very much been trained by QT. They train pretty regularly and I’m excited.
When you’re of that size. If you were coming in, not Shaq, if you were that big I would want you to train and learn to do as much as you can but most wrestling promoters and bookers and companies aren’t going to have you do as much. There is very much a less-is-more guideline for a legitimate giant. Not many come into wrestling anymore.
The only thing I’ve been thinking of in my mind is I wrestled Big Show so many times. He was just one of the most valuable teachers to me. He was everything. He was a genuine adversary when it came to how he handled going to WrestleMania. He was my first taste of good politics, bad politics, and he was an angel in the ring to wrestle with. It gave me some absolute valuable lessons. So thinking about Show a lot as I’ve been thinking about Shaq, in any way are they similar.
Q: You and Shaq are the headliners, but how big of an opportunity is this for Jade and Red Velvet?
A: Red Velvet, this is the golden ticket. Everyone likes Red Velvet and she went ahead and said, ‘I’m not just going to be a replacement.’ Her and Arn (Anderson) discussed doing that interview (in the “Waiting Room” segment) where I just basically stood there like a pud, which was great. I don’t have to do a seven-minute manifesto. If I’ve got one ready, I’m ready.
I was genuinely in the moment impressed and thought she endeared herself to the audience. I felt she didn’t try to be patronizing to me or be a suck-up of anything of that nature. She really kind of stuck her point out there and walked off and had us think about it. And very sincerely, if there was any doubt on who should fill that role she made it all clear because there were a lot of names that got thrown around when (my wife) Brandi got pregnant. And she made it all clear that it was gonna be Red Velvet. I was very proud of her and I don’t even know her that well.
As far as Jade is concerned, this might piss some people off, and I’m only telling you from an optics standpoint, but Jade trains incredibly hard. I know she’s incredibly disciplined. She’s not that nice to me, but she reminds me so much of the early stages of Chyna and in her own unique way. I come to find out in the little bit of interaction I had with her before she ripped me on the mic, Chyna is her favorite wrestler. I haven’t had that experience yet with a trainee and somebody who is breaking into the industry. For me, to have Red Velvet and to have Jade and everything that’s also going on with what (women’s champion) Hikaru Shida’s been putting together with the women’s tournament, we are trying to take all the steps we can at a real pace without hot-shotting to just bolster our presence on our women on the show.
Q: In your mind, with where AEW’s relationship is with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, is the door open for those dream matches once travel restrictions are lifted?
A: I’m all AEW, but I’m not blind to the potential of these crossovers. I do think when travel restrictions lift, perhaps there are crossover matches, the dream matches that are available for us. I know in my heart that there is somebody I’d love to wrestle from New Japan. I didn’t get the opportunity and time is running out on that opportunity.
I’m a big fan of The Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi). I like to challenge myself and they have a great roster in terms of (Kazuchika) Okada, Jay White and of course (Kota) Ibushi, who I got to wrestle so many times, and many people. (Tomohiro) Ishii, my gosh. There’s some good potential there for crossover elements and good friendly relations, but I also want to never forget that we have a loaded locker room of men and women who are champing at the bit to get in this two-hour time slot and I always look at AEW first. Just respectably to any other company, I’m probably the most guarded up when it comes to crossovers.
Q: Dynamite two weeks ago had wrestlers from NWA, Impact and New Japan. Is there an end goal in your guys’ minds of how you want this idea of talent sharing to affect wrestling? It feels like a throwback to the territory days.
A: I think of “All In” itself. “All In” is a show that ROH (Ring of Honor) helped us with that Matt (Jackson), Nick (Jackson), myself did all the work for outside of that initial production element and the reason it was important that the three of us do it was we were able to let all these old rules go away. That’s a very dangerous and powerful precedent to set if you literally do put down all the bridges and you do put down all the doors. Again, this is all hypothetical, but there is no reason AEW couldn’t work with New Japan. We’re aware of the world outside. Bullet Club is a big part of our blood in AEW. So there’s no reason we couldn’t work with New Japan. There’s no reason Jacob Fatu couldn’t take a step over from MLW and stand across the ring from me.
There’s no reason that there couldn’t be a potential WWE crossover one day. And I don’t mean that’s a thing that’s been discussed or happening, but none of those rules that exist for other places exist for us. Wrestling is really this universal industry. The territory reference that you made, that’s fairly accurate, but the part of it that’s most accurate was there was a genuine trust.
Eddie Graham and Vince (McMahon) Sr. they traded people all the time and made prolific pieces of business out of it and they did it in a way where they introduced these characters in New York and then next thing you know they introduce these characters in Florida and it kept things fresh because above all, Wednesday Night War or not the main thing we have to do for fans for the rest of this run – and I want this company to be around forever — is keep it fresh. It can’t ever get stale.
Our doors are open if the business is right, if the moment is right, if the time right. Our bridges are down. I’ll be the one curmudgeon AEW guy to make sure it’s all good.
Q: What’s the biggest thing you learned being a son of a pro wrestler that you can take into being a father as a pro wrestler?
A: My dad was really big, and it was because he was a wrestler, on being true to who you are. He told me around 4 or 5, he said if the teacher asks you, “What does your dad do for a living?” you can tell him I’m a salesman. You can tell him I’m a mechanic. I told him, “I don’t want to tell them that, I want to tell them that you’re a wrestler.” He said, “That’s what I want too. Don’t ever feel the pressure to do it.” That kind of really shaped my whole childhood. I wore a leather jacket in 3rd grade, everyone made fun of me. The next day I wore that leather jacket again and the next day. That was kind of growing up with such a character of a father and a larger than life personality.
And where I grew up, people really looked down their noses at our family because we were like the circus. He was adamant about just being true to who you are all the way to the point where I said in that funeral home, and they asked me what do you want to put. It’s like a flashback. The guy said I can put he has a college degree and I stopped him and I said, “Just write pro wrestler.” That’s what he was. So for me, that was a great lesson that I hope I can pass on to my own child.