In the midst of the red-hot summer of Cody Rhodes, and his inauguration as the face of the WWE, he isn’t the only famous Cody with a longtime passion and zest for the business we all love, as he explains to Wrestling Headlines.
Working His Way Up
Under the tutelage of ‘Dangerboy’ Derek Wylde and the sadly departed Jesse Scott in Ontario, Canada, Chris Gray AKA Cody Deaner, made his debut in 2000, thus beginning his near-quarter of a century – so far – as a professional wrestler.
“I was trying to record quality versions of my matches on a VHS camcorder,” Deaner explained to Wrestling Headlines. A tricky task, considering the lack of production values and technical equipment available at independent shows in the 2000s.
By 2004, wrestling as Cody Steele, he was able to record a bout from Empire State Wrestling in New York, in which he wrestled his original trainer Derek for twenty minutes. He sent it to WWE and waited for a call.
“My girlfriend, at the time, calls me and says ‘you have a message on the answering machine from someone named Tommy Dreamer.'”
He assumed someone was ribbing him, unbeknownst to the fact Dreamer had just that week got a job in the WWE office and had been watching the mountain of tapes of unsigned talent in his office.
Cody called Tommy back and he offered Deaner two tryout matches. He wrestled a dark match with Muhammad Hassan before a segment with Kurt Angle on Smackdown.
“Both of them went really well and I’m like this is going to go somewhere. I kept getting asked to come back and did some extra spots.”
He was a trumpeter, escorting King Booker to the ring along with Colt Cabana and Corey Graves. Even Viscera stole his nachos at ringside as a planted fan, but no contract offer came. His foot was in the door, but the door wasn’t yet fully open.
Arn Anderson was a backstage producer and agent at the time. Cody plucked up the courage to quiz the legend as to why he couldn’t secure a contract. Arn simply told him: “Well, you’ve got to be different. That’s the only thing I can tell you.”
“When I was honest with myself,” Cody told me, “I realised I look like everybody else that’s on TV right now.”
“I had long hair, was in good shape; just wore generic tights and nothing stood out about me.”
“I’m a good wrestler but I’m not doing anything to stand out and look different.”
He decided to drastically alter his look and become Cody Deaner. Mullets, Daisy Dukes and fanny packs became a key part of his attire, as well as smoking cigarettes and drinking beer.
Dreamer had previously explained to Deaner that he was “TV ready” but that the creative team simply didn’t have a spot for him. He was stuck in purgatory, but another avenue was about to reveal itself.
Total Nonstop Action
“In the summer,” Deaner explained, “I’d go down and visit Eric Young who lived in Nashville and I’d go down with him to Orlando for the TNA tapings to hang out and maybe see if there was a spot on the show.”
“There are thousands of independent wrestlers trying to get a job on TV, but there’s only a limited number of contracts in 2009.”
Whilst partnering Young to TNA tapings, Jeff Jarrett noticed Deaner and offered him a contract. The disappointment of not earning a WWE deal quickly dissipated as a role with TNA dawned. His scheduled debut in the World X Cup didn’t materialise and more time was spent on the sidelines, until the moment arrived.
He was introduced to fans as ODB’s manager and a program built around Deaner wrestling the likes of Tara, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky ensued, eventually culminating in ODB defending the strap against Deaner at the No Surrender PPV.
“I remember just having to pinch myself every time I was down thinking: I’m getting paid to do this; this is my job. What the hell!”
Riding rollercoasters at the theme park during the day and wrestling at night, it was a dream job, until his release from the company just after Christmas of 2009.
The Defining Chapter
He continued building the Deaner Dynasty on the indy circuit, before earning a contract with Jeff Jarrett’s short-lived Global Force Wrestling promotion in 2016. GFW subsequently merged with Impact and yet again, his position became unsure.
“I got a message when Jarrett was about to get power in Impact Wrestling again,” he said, “after Global Force started to do some work with them, from a production person saying: could I send some graphics for my video wall?”
He was told he’d be debuting in Impact soon, much to his instant excitement. But, in a continuing theme, the road was still a rocky one.
“A week later, Jeff Jarrett went into rehab and had some issues and had to get his life turned around so that opportunity disappeared.”
Back to square one, again.
On the independent scene, Deaner had been working for his friend Scott D’Amore’s Border City Wrestling, even holding its heavyweight title. In a positive twist of fate, D’Amore was about to take the reins for Impact Wrestling in late-2017.
D’Amore booked Deaner to wrestle for Impact in 2018 and he signed a contract in 2019. He established a tandem with Cousin Jake (Jake Something) as The Deaners. But, as fate so often intervened, it was to do so yet again when the Covid pandemic crippled the world. Once again, Cody’s wrestling life was to become uncertain.
“I often think about that period and how crazy it was,” he recollected.
“The infrastructure of the world was being crippled with rights and borders (being heavily restricted) and I need those things for this dream job that I have. Am I even going to be able to do this job anymore?”
Stuck at home in Canada, Cody filmed some comedy quarantine videos with the help of his sister-in-law who works in the film industry. His short film Cody in Quarantine even won awards at different film festivals.
The Deaners worked against The North – who were also stuck in Canada due to Covid restrictions – at the Deaner Compound, filmed with three iphones and handheld cameras that were sent to the Impact editing team. Then, finally they were able to travel to Skyway studios in Nashville to wrestle in front of…… no fans.
“That was even more strange than wrestling on a farm,” he said with a chuckle.
“The only fan you hear is the ceiling fan above the ring.”
By December 2020, Deaner joined Eric Young and Joe Doering to establish the Violent by Design faction.
“Some of my fondest memories and the most fun I’ve ever had in wrestling were working alongside Eric Young and Joe Doering as part of VBD,” he reminisced. “Those were some really special times.”
The group would capture the Impact world tag-team titles on two occasions, utilising the Freebird rule, allowing any combination of the trifecta to defend the belts.
In December 2022, Young and Deaner took part in a memorable cinematic promo on an episode of Impact, in which Young wanted Deaner to “eliminate the sickness.” Deaner shockingly ‘murdered’ Young with a shank in the prison setting to kill off Young. EY’s Impact Wrestling contract thusly expired.
“Some of that verbiage was very personal to Eric Young with some of the things he was going through in his life.”
“It was a proverbial, symbolic passing of the torch, so to speak, to me,” Deaner said. It was unique and a change to the traditional tried-and-tested method of passing the torch by laying down for your opponent in the ring. VBD was renamed The Design with Deaner now at the helm.
TNA Lives Again!
At the conclusion of Impact’s 2023 Bound For Glory pay-per-view, it was revealed in a stirring video package that Impact was to return to its roots and rename itself Total Nonstop Action, from 2024.
“It was special to me because I was in the original TNA.”
“A lot of them (on the current roster) grew up watching it, they were TNA fans.”
As TNA’s eagerly anticipated rebirth initiated, Scott D’Amore – the respected leader of the brand – saw his contract terminated, much to the shock and chagrin of fans and the roster alike.
“For me personally, I was not just losing somebody who’s a great boss,” Deaner revealed,” but I was losing a friend that I got to see every few weeks at work.”
“The one great thing about TNA is the people that still are there are good people.”
“I’m really proud to be a part of that family. I’ve always felt like a misfit in this business.”
Inspiring the Youth
Outside of the ring, Deaner has made use of his English Literature and Teaching degrees to become a speaker at schools, imparting his life lessons on to the next generation.
“I’ve learned more from my failures than I have from my successes. Every time that a door closed in my life, another had a little crack in it.”
“I share those lessons with young people.”
“I was a kid that grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere with a population of less than 200 people. I was a small, skinny kid and every time I told someone I was going to be a professional wrestler, they laughed in my face.”
Invitations to speak at schools spiralled and he is now as busy speaking as he is grappling.
“I’ll be able to speak long after I can’t take bodyslams,” he proudly declared.
As well as that, he produces a podcast entitled Wrestling is Life is Wrestling. And most importantly to him, he has his Giv’er Charity fundraising for children’s charities in Canada.
“I love wrestling, but there are more important things in life than body slamming guys.”
Pro wrestling isn’t always about wins and losses; it’s about getting yourself over. Deaner hasn’t only got himself over to pro wrestling fans, but to the young children who want to be a success in themselves. He takes this responsibility very seriously.
