Dustin Rhodes Says WWE Is Making Cody Rhodes Earn It

Whilst Dustin Rhodes personally wished Cody Rhodes won the World Championship at WrestleMania, he does like that WWE are making him earn it.

Many expected ‘The American Nightmare’ to walk away with the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39, marking a feat that his father ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes was never able to achieve. Instead Roman Reigns retained, leaving questions about whether a build for Rhodes’ getting the title could be so hot in the future.

In a discussion on Busted Open Radio, Cody’s brother Dustin Rhodes discussed how he’s proud of his brother, and likes the fact that WWE are making him “pay for it” when it comes to reaching the top.

“I’m super proud of Cody, and I want to just, from this point on, get closer and closer to my family as possible and love him and put aside everything. Me and Cody are fine, there’s nothing wrong. We call each other all the time, we talk to each other, and he’s doing an outstanding job. He’s being shot to the moon right now, which is great. That’s good for him, and I hope is happy and finally gets that big one that dad never got, and I’ve never won a world title.

There is a little jealousy on my part because man, why can’t I do that? But it’s okay. It’s not a bad jealousy thing. I’m extremely proud of him. I wish him the best. He’s gonna be world champion, I know it. I don’t know when. He’s gonna be the world champion. Keep doing it, man. They’re making him pay for it now. They’re making him earn it. I like that, I do. I like that because once you put the title on him, where are you going?”

Continuing on, Dustin Rhodes discussed both his personal and business opinions on the decision not to put the belt on Cody Rhodes.

“I understand, I went to Mania, and I sat up in the box and I wasn’t allowed down or anything like that. I was there, and I went there for the reason that Cody was gonna win the title. We didn’t know. We were just, it was just, this is his time. It was a little frustrating when he didn’t win. But at the same time, business-wise, everybody in the world thought he was gonna win that thing.

When you look at it a week later or whatever and you kind of analyze it and see what they’re doing with Brock right now and all that kind of stuff, it makes sense. Was it the right call? I don’t know. Personally, I wish he would have won it. But was it the right call? Probably so. Probably down the line, he builds to this thing, and he finally wins it, then it’s gonna be that much bigger, at least in my opinion.”

Dustin Rhodes went on to note that he reckons there will be another time which is appropriate for the historic moment for Cody Rhodes to take place.

Looking at Cody now, he’s got to step up his game from here on out to get to where you’re talking about, to make this thing a special [moment]. There’s no reason Cody can’t do it because he’s very talented. His promos are great, his work rate’s great. He’s gonna go out there and right now he does have the people, so it’s just a matter of keeping them, sustaining them, and making that moment when it does happen that much more special.

I believe you can strike it again, I do. With somebody that has been born into the business and loves it and things like that, it’s few and far between, but when it happens, it happens, and their times are right. So with storylines and the way they go, if it’s done right, then yes, they’re gonna respond. Finally, Cody gets the championship, oh my god. Then, where do we go from? Now you gotta keep it because he’s there for the long run, so it’ll be interesting to watch over the next year and couple of years.

With thanks to Fightful for the transcription.