AEW’s Cody Rhodes says if WWE’s Triple H, Vince McMahon or Stephanie McMahon ask him to ‘repay the debt’ – he will
WWE and AEW may be at 'war' at present, but some things are bigger than wrestling.
The late, great Dusty Rhodes is a legend in the wrestling business that will be remembered forever.
The American Dream spent time in both WCW and WWE and the tail end of his career and life saw him influence a whole generation of superstars that currently sit atop of WWE.
His role in NXT saw him beloved by nearly all of the superstars that set foot in the performance center.
Of course, now his son Cody is helping to pioneer a new wrestling promotion called All Elite Wrestling. A company that is still in its first year of existence and has only been on TV for just over a month.
Still, although ex-WWE superstar Cody is competing against WWE in many ways, he is still deeply appreciative of how they treated his father in later life and will 'pay that debt' if ever need be.
He explained on Cheap Heat with Pete Rosenberg:
It’s very simple. I could smash a thousand thrones and I could make a thousand pot shots and little fourth wall breaking comments about my experience because it is vastly different from Dusty’s.
But as his son, I know that in 2005 when he got his first royalty check for the Dusty Rhodes DVD, which they did a marvelous job on, my mother literally hit her knees in the kitchen and thank god for them having brought him back to financial security. For them having given him a home in the winter of his life in a functional thing to chew on with NXT and to maybe help and guide a few young stars. So with that in mind and what they did for him at the end, I will never be ungrateful to them.
Now I have my own opinions about my own career that are mine, and people think that because of what they did for my dad I should ya know be voiceless on occasion and that’s just never going to be the case. But, I will always say that I owe them a great debt. Maybe I paid it personally with the way things ended. Who knows. But I’ll never forget that. Both Hunter and Vince and Stephanie McMahon were very good to my father when he needed it, and as his son that’s something that if they ever ask me to ya know, to repay that debt, I’ll go repay it. Because it was important.
Now I know that the narrative is the McMahons hate the Rhodes and maybe in there there’s some true to that. But ya know. If I have a few drinks ask me the same question and the answer might be completely different. But in this moment, in this moment, I still remain very grateful for what they did for my dad. What they did for me, different story. What they did for him, very grateful.