Cody Rhodes interview on Live Audio Wrestling

Leaving WWE and being a “true independent contractor”:

Cody: “Yeah, I think that word independent contractor is so unique and I know people have examined it as it relates to WWE a lot but it’s nice to see it honest, the word independent contractor. I don’t want to go into anybody’s house and wreck shop or anything like that. I only want to make their product better and maybe their product will make me better so it is really – to be able to go anywhere and represent various brands, to see an independent contractor actually be honest is a huge kick”.

Making your own schedule:

Cody: “That is the moment they don’t tell you about, I’m going to hit various indies up and I’m going to do this whole post-WWE tour. That’s the part people don’t tell you, you’re going to be in charge of promotion, you’re going to be in charge of so much that’s involved. You’re basically saying you’re your own brand and it actually takes true meaning when you are in control of everything like the simplest things like what photos, what merch you had and what the graphics are going to look like and how you are going to go about promoting the shows. I get the biggest kick out of that because my dad was a promoter. I mean, he was a wrestler too obviously but he was a promoter and the big events and the sizzle behind the substance was one of the things he was really good at doing in acquiring and the cross promotion and all that so for me to take a stab at it, I don’t know if you can tell in my voice but has really been the happiest time of my life and I’m glad it’s going successfully.”

Going to TNA:

Cody: “I really wanted to get certain things done like we’re talking about on the list and a couple of guys are TNA stars that were on the list, Mike Bennett, Moose particularly. So, it was a matter of both parties came together at the same time and I was really happy to do that because you see so much negativity about TNA which is unrelated to the in-ring product, it’s related to the business element. Who’s suing who and who owns what and I don’t really give a damn, there are still a lot of really great wrestlers. Some who are ex-WWE, some who are WWE bound, some worldwide stars and I was happy. My experience there was gleaming from the moment I went to Nashville to film my bumper, my teaser for coming to the last taping I was part of. It was very much a first class operation so whatever goes on behind the scenes must be a madhouse because I didn’t see any of that, I had really great interactions with both Billy and Dixie and was really happy to be there. It was short-term but because of the tapings they do, really everything is short term until the next set of tapings. If the ship continues to sail in the direction it was sailing when I was there, there’s no doubt I’ll be back and be happy as hell to be back.”

Concerns over the state of TNA:

Cody:  “This is going to sound like such a stiff upper-lip answer but I’m not doing it for the money. You should never do anything you feel good at for free and I am certainly will expect to be paid but it doesn’t – this wasn’t for the money, this was more for the fun. This was more for the fact that I had seen Impact on Pop sitting at home and I thought, man this is a wonderful production here. It’s always better to be on TV than not be on TV so it doesn’t worry me really at all. If any of the information was given to me as it comes about what’s going on day to day, it might stress me a little bit but I have kind of been going on a handshake deal from place to place and my experience, like I said with them was totally gleaming. Billy, thumbs up, Dixie, thumbs up so it doesn’t worry me.”

Download the full interview at this link:

http://fightnetwork.com/law/6575964/