Top 45 Cody Rhodes Quotes

I had a habit of watching classic wrestling pretty much on repeat in the locker rooms. With the influx of talent at WWE, with guys like Kevin Owens, he was one of the first people to open my eyes up to the world that is PWG and BOLA.

My dad was a three-time world heavyweight champion, so I want to be a three-time world heavyweight champion.

One of the last things that my dad and I discussed, and it sticks with me today, is that he no longer believed in the concept of Good Guy/Bad Guy. He believed in the idea that one guy is trying to beat the other. However, he would say, ‘You can be a Good Guy/Bad Guy, or you can just be a star.’

A lot of the work I did with WWE had very strong comic book ties that were more than just a wink at the audience. There was a period of time when I had a clear protective face mask and a hood over my head that correlated with Doctor Doom.

There is an honor to what we do, and there are no shortcuts.

I just play it safe when it comes to television because it is WWE’s intellectual property. But it is literally my legal name, like on my ID. My name hasn’t been Cody Runnels since I was 17. But it’s theirs. At no point would I ever want to go into a courtroom with a company I have love and admiration for.

I live for this. I continue to study. To bump and learn.

I loved WWE , but in the end, I was unhappy. It was just like planning an escape from a maximum security prison. I’d released a list of potential opponents online, so when the 90-day no-compete clause was up, I had matches booked on good faith. I thought about the follow-up.

If you ask me what I like about Green Arrow, I can tell you that I read ‘Longbow Hunters’ years ago and that it’s my favorite Green Arrow.

Luke Gallows is now entirely focused with WWE, but he built WrestleMerica, which was very much a Southern-based independent.

There are fans who just like their indie stars, and then there are your more casual fans that are more familiar with somebody like Kurt Angle, and their interest might be piqued.

The Bullet Club keeps New Japan Pro Wrestling in the black. Far in the black. Because of me. I’m a part-timer in that company, and I hold the Tokyo Dome merchandising record and Osaka’s. Funkos. Bucks on a career run. This Bullet Club may never be topped.

The fans never gave up on CM Punk. If CM Punk wants to be part of ‘All In,’ he can be part of ‘All In.’ But I am not putting it on him to draw those 10,000 seats. If we did have CM Punk, we would not tell you we had CM Punk – unless we didn’t sell any tickets.

I was a referee in TCW in Carrollton, Georgia, doing Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, and it was 1,000 degrees in there, and it was completely sold out every Friday that we ran it. That was my dad’s independent promotion.

As we formulate big four matches, there should definitely be a lucha presence involved.

I always tried to stand out as a ref. I wore a long-sleeve black Under Armour t-shirt so that you knew I was the cool ref as opposed to the old dude.

Some people, they’re seeking elsewhere, looking elsewhere. I love WWE, but this is the type of wrestling that I grew up on. And every week, it’s bigger and bigger. And these shows are just getting more and more special.

I just had the absolute best luck in the world in terms of meeting The Young Bucks, and they might look like wild little rock stars who are irresponsible, but they are business geniuses. They set up the deal with Hot Topic, and they’re going to be the first 7-figure downside characters that New Japan Pro Wrestling has.

Shane McMahon did his own mo-cap. Did you guys know that? He went and did his own mo-cap. He didn’t want somebody doing his moves. Shane did his own mo-cap.

Whoever did my mo-cap for Stardust watched my very first entrance and nothing else, because I never did half the stuff ever again, and it’s funny to watch. Well, hey, that’s what they used, so yeah.

The Rhodes in WWE have a wonderful history. I’m glad they let me go. They are the house that built me, and you never know – I might be there again one day.

I put my confidence in Ring of Honor because they put their confidence in me.

My dad had a habit of giving me the Abdullah the Butcher matches as well as the ones with tables and chairs – basically, the matches that went all over the building.

When I wasn’t wrestling, I got back into school a little bit. In Dallas, there was VIP Wrestling, and in Atlanta, AR Fox has a great school, so it’s good to get back in there and continue to learn.

I try to live under a rock when it comes to WWE, but you can’t avoid seeing your Twitter feed, people talking about Jinder Mahal wrestling Randy Orton at a pay-per-view.

I was really confident when I left WWE. I was confident that I would have a good time, and I was confident that I could wrestle differently than perhaps people saw me in the last few years with WWE, but I definitely wasn’t prepared for this level of everything.

When guys leave – whether they decide to leave or they’re forced out – there’s usually this period of time we see them around the world, and they can ride that WWE wave and use it, and then it goes away. It loses its luster after a few months.

Some kids like books, some kids like movies, but for me, every year I still go back and play ‘Legend of Zelda.’ So to me, when I got up to the big time, I thought that Zelda was my thing. CM Punk has a Pepsi tattoo, so why can’t I have the Triforce? Gaming is huge to me; it’s all I do.

I’m a second-generation professional wrestler. My family, the Rhodes family, has been wrestling for 50-odd years.

As the leader of the Bullet Club, I can’t slow down now. I am an example for everybody who thought just slapping the Bullet Club logo on you would define your career.

I had several decorated characters within the WWE that I was really proud of, coats of paint that changed that I could show a different side to the audience, because I’ve been in front of them since I was 20 years old, and none of them were necessarily the right one.

I believe in hard work, but I believe in vindication as well. You have a few nightmares, I imagine, before you reach your dream.

A lot of times when people are released or, unfortunately, get fired, they almost scramble for what it is they are going to do next. I think when you are no longer working under a big, corporate umbrella, you have to be your own brand, your own enterprise. That was my thought process before I left.

Everytime there’s an NXT show, people are like, ‘Oh, that’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.’ It’s the greatest show on Earth. One of things that they have going for them is the fact they make you wait. They build to it properly. That’s a good way to go at this.

One thing I learned from my old man is that people are going to be happy for you, but not too happy. When the tables are turned and you’re hanging out on top with a guy like Randy Orton, who is in the main event at Wrestlemania, not all the guys are going to like you.

I love good balance, so being a collector is a fun little thing while we travel this world. I mean, every night, it’s something else. The other night, I head-banged a dude on my rental car and drove him through the curtain in my rental car. So some moments are not as good as others, but they are all fun, that’s for sure.

All you need to do is look down at my boots. My pro wrestling boots that I’ve worn for the past year have the Triforce symbol from ‘Legend of Zelda’ on them.

Pro wrestling is what provided for my family.

It’s damn exciting that without the biggest wrestling company in the world, I’m able to build a brand and be successful. It’s hard to stay on top of it. I had to hire a staff. It sounds so silly. I had to hire a kid to do social media work for me. It’s really cool.

I think the yearning for a different product is really strong. WWE hasn’t had any significant change since, what, 2001 in wrestling? WWE provides so much good content. Just good, wholesome content, but they’re still the only one.

I think it’s really exciting for me to see Brandi branch out. Because when you look her up and see her pictures online and see that she was this bikini model, it doesn’t tell you that she’s got a degree from the University of Michigan or that she attended the master’s program and the University of Miami.

If you’re in front of a Ring of Honor crowd and you suck, they’ll let you know.

If you’re a foolhardy, braggadocio male figure who wants to charge forward in every fight, it has its pros and its cons, that’s for sure.

When you get a record attendance for What Culture Pro Wrestling – or just recently with Matt Cross, we did a record attendance for Next Gen in Tennessee. These are various brands. They’re not rinky-dink. They’re small – they’re not WWE – but their soul is there.

I’m still the guy who shared the ring with The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Triple H when they were still actually active. And I’m aware, as my wife loves to hear. It’s not different than any sport in the world where the best wrestlers are gonna get the best spots. That spot is for me, because I’ve earned it.