TNA Star “Owes Cody Rhodes A Cigar”
A friend from Cody Rhodes’ past credited the WWE Champion for his kindness.
After Cody Rhodes left WWE in 2016, he went on to have a lot of success in other places like Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and TNA/Impact Wrestling.
While he was away from WWE, Cody had a huge impact in the pro wrestling business and crossed paths with a lot of people. That led to the birth of All Elite Wrestling in 2019 with Cody as one of the founders along with Tony Khan, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega.
Currently, Cody Rhodes is the Undisputed WWE Champion while Joe Hendry is seen as a rising star in TNA while also making a recent appearance on WWE’s NXT brand.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet on YouTube, Hendry talked about how in the mid-2010s when Cody helped him get a deal with Ring of Honor.
“So Cody and I initially worked together in What Culture Pro Wrestling and I think that was a real missed opportunity for me to get mentorship from Cody. Because I came up through a company called ICW in Scotland, which was like, at one point, it was the hottest indie in the world, but it was very much a shark tank, it was just that type of environment. I don’t mean that in a bad way, necessarily, I just mean that everything was moving so fast and it was like I have to be respected and I have to convey myself as a top talent.”
“So when I got to What Culture, I think rather than learn to be a student, I was trying to be like, I can be on Cody’s level, and I think I maybe missed mentorship opportunity there. But we were on the same tour right around the time that he was starting AEW.”
“And obviously, at the time, that may not be the right fit, but rather than just be like, No, Cody came to me and he says ‘Listen, like, I think Ring of Honor is interested in you,’ he’s like ‘you’re not under contract?’ Because I’d done some stuff with TNA when it was Impact back in 2018 and I think there was the assumption that it was under contract, but I just done a handful of shows.”
“Cody set up the that that call with me and Ring of Honor, and honestly it was like, deal was done in five minutes. So all of this happened because of that call, I did the first Ring of Honor show back with the new ownership so if I hadn’t had my time in Ring of Honor, I learned so much that I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now.
“I definitely owe Cody Rhodes a cigar for sure. [Cody Rhodes basically stuck his neck out for you?] 100%, and the thing I respected about him was it’s like, okay, like, we can’t make something work here right now. But I know I know these guys want you, I’m gonna put in a good word, Just a great dude. Yeah, very thankful for that.”
Cody Rhodes Set For Huge Tag Team Match At WWE Money In The Bank
While Cody Rhodes is the WWE Champion, he won’t have to defend that title at the Money in the Bank PLE on July 6th. Instead, Cody will team up with Randy Orton and Kevin Owens against The Bloodline’s Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa. It will be three of those four men and the names haven’t been announced yet.
The result of their Money in the Bank could lead to Cody Rhodes defending the WWE Title against Solo Sikoa at SummerSlam because that’s a match that has been rumored for SummerSlam in Cleveland.