Cody Rhodes looks back on his Stardust gimmick in WWE.
The American Nightmare appeared on the Dale Download with Dale Earnhardt Jr. program to discuss his former character, and how he feels like he could have shedded the gimmick quicker of he had just gotten into better shape. Cody, who has been very vocal about his dislike for Stardust, says that would be the advice he would give to younger talents if they ever feel like they are being held down.
The biggest way to turn your fortunes around is to get in the best shape of your career. It’s still a vanity business. You’re still out there, half-naked, oiled up, and the guys behind the operation still have a love for bodybuilding. They’re in great shape and in custom suits. That’s one of the first things I tell people, because it helps the mindset too, ‘get in the best possible shape.’ Had I gotten in the best possible shape in my career and been like, ‘I’m telling you I want to be Cody Rhodes and not Stardust, let me get new gear and present that to you. Let me have this all done up.’ Instead of doing that, I just bottled. I let it swell. I thought, ‘if I do that, I still won’t (be pushed).’ That’s not the case. You get in the best shape of your career, it turns heads. If Stardust had 8% body fat and a six-pack and shredded and was handsome, they might be like, ‘What are we doing in this outfit?’
Cody recalled one of the early pitches for the Stardust mask looked like a condom, something that forced him to speak up for himself.
At one point, I had the paint, but there was an actual mask that was pitched. This was an area where I spoke up. I put it on and it’s like a classic condom blowing up. It looked so bad. I get there is an element of humor to what I’m going to do, but they have to be laughing with you, they can’t be laughing at you. It looked like a condom meets Electro from the Spider-Man comics. I told Vince [Vince McMahon], ‘I can’t do the mask it looks so bad.’ I went and shaved my head like Dustin. I’m glad the mask never saw the light of day. Stardust had some milestones, and I did go into it committed to try and change it, but it wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
In a separate interview, Cody spoke about his relationship with WWE’s Nick Khan and why he feels like Khan gave him the “keys to the kingdom.” You can read about that here.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)