Before his match with Cody at Double Or Nothing this past Saturday, Dustin Rhodes spoke to Wrestling Inc about AEW’s TV deal and how it’s just like old times.
“It’s pretty cool. It’s been a long time. That’s my old friend – TNT/TBS. It’s really cool and almost magical that we’re back with TNT. It’s gonna be hopefully another war where [AEW] will step up their game and make everyone else step up their game. It’s good for the business with competition,” said Rhodes.
“I’m very anxious to see how it all plays out and I’m glad I’m on the first AEW show and I’m with my brother. I can’t wait.”
AEW has filled out its backstage roles such as producers and agents with an eclectic mix of personalities including Arn Anderson, Jim Ross, Billy Gunn and Dean Malenko. Rhodes has history with all of them and talked about what they will bring to AEW.
“I love it. Opportunity knocks and once one door closes, another one opens,” stated Rhodes. “Arn Anderson, I haven’t really told a lot of people this, but I have five teachers in this business. Arn, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, Barry Windham and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. And Arn knows his sh*t inside and out and same way with Dean Malenko.”
Rhodes also said Billy Gunn will be a great trainer and that AEW has just the right number of people backstage with these roles. He doesn’t want “too many cooks in the kitchen” and not having too many trainers allows AEW to focus more on the talent.
“Dean or Arn are unbelievable. If they are producing my match, in the past I’ve always loved that for the other company [WWE]….I’ll go blank in the head with things I wanna try to do and just can’t think straight, Arn will pop something out and it makes sense,” said Rhodes.
“Dean Malenko is incredible, especially for the tag teams and smaller guys. It’s gonna be incredible and I cannot wait.”
A character that reminds many of Goldust is the flamboyant Sonny Kiss who will take part in a battle royal at Double or Nothing. Rhodes talked about Kiss and others that have some traces of the Goldust gimmick in them.
“When talking about characters, [Kiss] popped into my mind and so did Velveteen Dream,” revealed Rhodes. “I helped Velveteen Dream a lot with some of his stuff and he’s gonna be a huge star in this business. Sonny Kiss, I look at him and I’m like, ‘Okay, I can work with this.’ We can figure some cool stuff out and be entertaining as far as they’ll let you be with television.”
Rhodes said he’s excited to meet Kiss and all the new AEW talent in person as long as they have good attitudes.
“If you have a bad attitude, it doesn’t go far and doesn’t sit well with the boys in the back working their asses off to accomplish a goal. These attitudes just come in and disrupt everything. So, I’m anxious to see these kids and their attitudes and how they carry themselves around AEW,” said Rhodes.
Rhodes will be teaming with Cody to face The Young Bucks at AEW’s Fight for the Fallen event in July. Rhodes also discusssed who else he’d like to work with.
“I’d like to work with any of the [AEW] talents, but at this point it’s, ‘What else can I do?’ I can pass on my knowledge to the younger kids. If they’re willing to accept it and listen, then I can help them,” stated Rhodes.
“Now, I can’t help them with doing 5000 mph high spots but I can teach them how to tell stories and the psychology side of the business and that less is more sometimes. I’m very good of that and I think our family is really good at that and the entertainment aspect of it.”
Rhodes said he’s not looking for a full time return but is open to a few matches here and there. He also wants to act more because age is not an issue with that.
“I already have experience on television [as a pro wrestler] for 30 years how to basically act. So, I wanna take that and do something a little easier on the body,” said Rhodes.
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