AEW star Dustin Rhodes recently appeared on the Way of the Blade program to discuss his classic matchup with his brother Cody from the inaugural 2019 Double or Nothing pay per view. Highlights from the Natural’s interview can be found below.
Says there was some concern that WWE wouldn’t allow him to work the match due to his non-compete clause:
Two weeks before that [releasing his post-WWE hype video], they had given me a call, Cody [Rhodes], right? And told me and they said, ‘Hey man, would you like to be in this Double or Nothing pay-per-view and wrestle your brother?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ But to be honest with you, I thought my wrestling career was over and I questioned myself. I questioned myself big time. ‘Can I still go and give Cody the type of match that he deserves?’ And you know, ‘Is this gonna do anything for me?’ Because they billed it as ‘One Last Ride’ — and it was a little before two weeks, sorry. It was probably like a month before they had offered me that, right? And they were very scared that the 90-day, they [WWE] were gonna try and hold me and I wouldn’t be able to get into this pay-per-view but I agreed to this, not knowing what to expect because AEW is a different crowd base, a different fan base so they came out to my home, we shot a video. Just the little vignette because we did two vignettes.
Says he always tried to campaign for a match with Cody at WrestleMania and Vince McMahon would tell him it wasn’t good enough:
But to go back, like five years before this [Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes at Double or Nothing], I had fought so hard every single year to get — to work by brother at WrestleMania. You know, the show and point blank, Vince [McMahon] would always tell me, ‘This match is not good enough to be on WrestleMania.’ That pissed me off. That pissed me off bad and it was hurtful and it did something to me and it really depleted every ounce of passion that I had man. I fought for it every single year, Cody too. We both fought for it every year.
How he regained his passion for pro-wrestling after the match concluded:
It was the most incredible feeling I have had yet in the wrestling business in my 33 years of being in the business [Double or Nothing 2019]. The most incredible night of my life and at the end of that promo that Cody [Rhodes] spit at me when he came back in the ring when I was about to say, ‘Hey, this was one last ride and I’m taking off my boots. I can’t do anything better than that,’ and he comes in and he offers me to be his partner for the next pay-per-view, and from that moment, I found my passion again and it was — I’m looking around at the crowd and I’ve lost probably three pints of blood, who knows? It was so excessive. It was abundantly excessive, right? And I’m dizzy and my stomach is hurting because I’m about to throw up because I’ve swallowed so much blood, I’ve lost so much blood and I’m looking at these people and I see them through the blood and it’s blurry but I can see their faces and you know, it’s like, I compare it to somebody who is a non-believer that’s just there with their children and they’re sitting in the front row, the children are happy to be there, the parents, the man or the woman, they hate it. They’re just there for the kids. But at the end, you worked them into a frenzy and they’re on their feet or they’re crying or they’re happy or they’re mad or whatever, you’re making them feel something and everybody in that building, everybody at home, they felt what Cody and I were going through. It was the most wonderful night of my life man and it’s like, there’s — I cannot top that. I can have some great moments left in the business but I thought I was done and I found my passion again and I found that, ‘Hey man, I can do this at 50-years-old. Maybe not on a full-time, every single night but I can do this’ and Tony [Khan] has really taken care of me and treats me like an attraction here and I really appreciate that. He makes me feel like I’m worth something and that is the one good thing that I’ve taken away about being with AEW is that it’s an incredible feeling to be here because he makes you feel worth. He makes you feel like a legend, right? And makes you feel like you are good enough to be in there with the world champion or whatever and you know, it’s a great feeling so I found my passion.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling
)