Cody Rhodes says he wasn't mature enough for an office job in wrestling and would like to steer clear of them in the future.
Cody Rhodes was an Executive Vice President in AEW and for a long time, he stated that he loved having an office job. Now, having left the promotion and rejoined WWE, Cody Rhodes is fully devoted to just being a wrestler.
He told the media as much during a recent scrum following his WWE return at WrestleMania 38.
"Never say never, just in general because in just six years we're having this conversation and I've completely gone back on what I've said," Cody said. "I don't think I want a management job in wrestling ever again. I don't think I was mature enough for it. I tried. Eddie (Kingston) and Rick (Starks), you mentioned them both, all I did was put them out there. Seth did the same thing for me. He put me out there. Tony Khan was the one who said 'Yes!' I had said, 'We don't have to hire everybody from the open challenge' and we basically did. The Nightmare Factory has never been connected anywhere, so I want them all. A lot of them think it's a fast track to a wrestling company, and I understand why, it's people who have gotten called up. I try to tell them, 'it's a fast track to learning how to make money in sports entertainment and pro wrestling.' The first thing I do at the end is, 'don't be afraid to ask. If you want to take to Mike Lombardi in NEW or Chaotic or All Pro Wrestling, tell them you trained here.' That's the whole point. if you don't make it to the end of the 12 weeks, we don't have to worry about, but all of them that make it, that's the hard thing for me. I love all these kids and we're on like camp five. There are too many at this point. I remember my first student, Brooke Havoc, now every camp there is somebody like that. I want to feed the wrestling and sports entertainment space and I want them to go and make the right decisions and we have great training for one company and another company. It's all harmony. We watch everything. I don't like to be in a bubble. I know how big WrestleMania was and it would be easy to be in this bubble and live in it forever in terms of the scope and grandeur, but we know. It's happening all over. That's why it worked. I wasn't in a cave for six years."
Furthermore, Cody says The Nightmare Factory will remain open and running. Cody says that if he never walks into the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, he's fine with that because of the emotional ties to Dusty Rhodes.
"The Nightmare Factory will continue to operate and run. If I never walk into the Performance Center, I'd be happy because it's a little too hard for me. That's where [Dusty's] office was. His boots are there. It's a little too hard for me. Also, when I graduated OVW, my dad told me, 'Never go back. You're done.' You can learn wrestling moves all day long at a wrestling school. No knock on that. You can learn flips, dives, and all these moves that are needed. The only way you really get the flow and connection is working in front of crowds. You can get the students to be your crowd, but it's not really the same. I'm all in and committed. They'll send me where I go, but I'll try and steer clear of any management role or anything ever. I'm a wrestler. A superstar. That's what's best for me," said Cody.
Cody Rhodes has spoken very openly about joining WWE and his reasoning behind it. He wants to be the WWE Champion and he told the WWE Universe as much upon his return to Monday Night Raw. Learn more here.
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