Cody Rhodes wishes Dusty had been alive to see MSG tribute after WWE SmackDown
Cody Rhodes wishes Dusty Rhodes had been alive to see what happened in Madison Square Garden after WWE SmackDown on Friday.
Rhodes paid tribute to his father after the show by holding up a replica of the title belt Dusty Rhodes wrestled Billy Graham for at MSG in 1977. WWE posted the segment to YouTube as a digital exclusive.
Thinking he had won the title that night after beating Graham via count-out, Dusty climbed the turnbuckle and held the belt up over his head, only for officials to take it away moments later. Cody says that since he was 8 years old, he always wanted to win that belt for his dad.
“I had always planned on saying the silliest little thing to him, but I just wanted to tell him, ‘Nobody can take it away from you now,'” Rhodes said on Friday. He then climbed the same turnbuckle his father did and held up the title as the crowd chanted for Dusty.
During a recent appearance on The Pivot Podcast, Rhodes was asked about the tribute.
“At 8 years old, that was my goal. My goal was to do what I did last night,” Rhodes responded. “I wish he had been alive for it and had that moment but after his passing, the ball started rolling in a completely different way and everything just started coming to me in unique and different routes than I thought.”
“I was happy that we did it for the MSG crowd,” he continued. “Of course, we’ll blast it out everywhere but just specifically to have that moment because the story was, I was 8 years old, I saw that picture, I wanted to be a pro wrestler. So, I got to live the picture and I got to keep it versus him getting all excited, holding it up there and then to have the heat of it being taken away but he loved the Garden and the Garden was really good to Dusty and they didn’t have to be.”
Rhodes also mentioned that he sent a message to his father after winning the title at WrestleMania 40 and was surprised the commentary and production teams never picked it up.
“At Mania, I had a brief moment where I got to look up – and I was very shocked that Michael Cole or nobody could pick this up, maybe it was the shot was so quick – But I looked up and I said, ‘Sorry, it took me so long.’ I think I had planned on saying a bazillion other things but that’s really how I felt.”
“Like hey, this is really cool, your widow she’s in the ring, my mom, your family’s taken care of and generationally we’re setting everything up but I’m sorry it took me so long. Because he was a believer. Like, not just that’s my boy, like no I think he’s got it, he’s just got to find it. Then I did, it was just later than anticipated.”