Cody Rhodes is large and in charge and doing whatever the hell he wants to do. He’s got a recurring role on Arrow, he’s an integral part of like every independent wrestling company on the planet, and he’s even body slamming fans onto thumbtacks for charity. I swear that last part makes sense and is not sarcastic.
But like isn’t always benevolent thumbtacks and radical acting roles for The American Nightmare. He recently had a very, very bad experience with an independent show, as a matter of fact. During an appearance on Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast, Cody went into serious detail on a nightmare he had to go through. (Transcript via WrestleZone.)
According to Cody, months before the date when he was supposed to appear for a Connecticut promotion to wrestle Donovan Dijak, he found out he needed to go back to the Arrow set to shoot some scenes. So he contacted the promoter “months out” and told him he may be unable to make the date, and they should try to line up a replacement if he couldn’t take it. The promoter said he had rented out a bar and grill, and had been advertising Cody as the guest for this after-party following the show. Rhodes said he was “very forthcoming” and that while he was going to try to do everything possible to make the show, he wasn’t likely to make that post-show event.
“It got to the point where I had to take a flight from Vancouver in the morning to Hartford, and I was going to be there 30 minutes before the show actually started. It wasn’t the end of the world, we were going at the end of the night, so it’s not the end of the world, it was happening later in the night so we could make it happen. Had there been a single travel woe, I wouldn’t have made it. I am still on the set of Arrow at 4 in the morning the night before, laying on the rooftop in a cold pool of rain water with the character Diggle pointing a fake gun at me, doing the same scene over and over again, and I’m not saying anything or really needed, but I’m there. As the time is going by, I’m thinking to myself that it is 4 in the morning, there is just no way I can make it. I should be at the airport already because it takes 2 hours in customs. I’m in Canada, so the Arrow people are super accommodating; they put me in a van, changed my clothes, just brilliant. I mean, I’m a glorified extra on the show, asking for my own ride, but they took care of me great.
“I made my first flight, I missed the first flight after going through customs and barely made the second flight. I’m so nervous because I don’t know when I am on because I had a suit on and my wrestling gear underneath it because I was convinced that this guy is not going to communicate with me; I’m not going to make the show. Long story short, I decided that I made it, I had time to talk with Dijak, and let’s go balls to the wall. I am going to no sleep, but who cares, I can get through this and sleep all night, no big deal.
“We get through the match, we finish, everyone seemed really excited for the match. He told me that it was a record crowd. I felt a super sense of accomplishment, until afterward when he asks me if I am still up for that dinner? I said that I honestly don’t think I will be able to make it because I haven’t slept, and I think I’m just going to hit the hay.
“This is my first bad experience was in this one phrase: ‘Well, do you want to get paid?’ I didn’t know what to do; like, part of me wanted to move my hand, and everyone is looking. I looked at him and walked into the other room and literally just texted my wife asking what I should do. … I came back in and I told him that I didn’t want his money. I am going to sign these 8×10s for the gentlemen in the restaurant and I’m going to go. My driver took me halfway to the hotel, and on the way to the hotel I said, you know what, let’s go to that dinner. We turn around, go to the dinner, nobody has any interest that I am at the dinner. The guy cards me when I come in, marks my hand and everything, okay cool, I start to eat and the guy who threatened to not pay me, and a standing ovation from his minions. At that point I just got up and left; I just didn’t want to be attached to the event any longer.
“Sorry for such a long journey I took you on, but there is a second part when a referee said to me after he heard the initial phrase, ‘Do you want to get paid,’ this random referee seemed really nice up to that point, he said, ;Hey man, you can’t blow him off like that, the last guy that did that was Kevin Nash.’ I’m thinking, I didn’t blow him off; I didn’t know. His whole crew is just staring at me, just a terrible experience. That was the one bad experience I had after the entire year.”
It sounds like one hell of a long day with some real unfortunate attitudes you don’t want to be dealing with when you haven’t slept for the better part of two days, but I suppose it could have been a lot worse. It sucks that Cody had such a bad time, but if that was his only bad experience in his year of free agency, I think that speaks volumes to what a wonderful year he’s had.
