Cody Rhodes Praises Tye Dillinger for How He Handled His WWE Exit, Explains What He’s Looking for in Potential AEW Talents

– WrestlingInc.com recently interviewed former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes earlier today for the WINCLY podcast. Rhodes discussed Tye Dillinger leaving WWE. Below are some highlights from, courtesy of WrestlingInc.

Cody Rhodes on Tye Dillinger: “I have a lot of respect for Tye, because that poor dude…when I got to OVW I had about three months of wrestling experience and was given a WWE contract solely because I was Dusty’s son. They paired me with him as a tag partner and he was so technically sound and ahead of me. He never once looked at me as a nuisance as he hid my weaknesses and accentuated my strengths.”

Cody Rhodes on Tye Dillinger releasing a statement publicly: “We’re friends and I have a lot of love and respect for him and how he put his statement out. He thanked them for their time, but he’s an artist and you can’t put a dollar figure on how you play your music. If that’s true, then I’m happy for him and I’ll loan him whatever resources I have to help him on his way because he loves the industry.”

Cody Rhodes on AEW having four executive VPs: “Everyone’s looking for something different as there’s four of us. I know that shocks everyone but I think it’s a good thing. For me, the No. 1 thing I look for is a hard worker. You’d be surprised at how many fake wrestlers there are in wrestling. Guys that wrestle two weekends a month and go out with the boys and think they are rock stars, but they are not. Wrestling is a touring show and you’ve got to be getting your reps in.”

Cody Rhodes on bringing in Joey Janela: “I’ll give you an example… Joey Janela. He’s not Lex Luger in his appearance, but that doesn’t matter. What matters to me is that he’s constantly trying to entertain his fans and his base. He’s not trying to entertain everybody, but he’s entertaining his base.”

Cody Rhodes on seeking out fresh talents: “I’m looking for hard workers that have not been oversaturated. We can’t just say, ‘Hey ex-WWE. Bam! Here’s a contract.’ It’s more about the fresh and the individual that hasn’t gotten the call yet. They can grow up in our company and in front of people’s eyes. That’s a huge responsibility and we have a big responsibility to these guys. I always thought it was ridiculous when a part-time guy in WWE came in and worked with another part-timer. No! You’re supposed to bring them up. Reach your hand down there and grab them. A big responsibility is to build characters that engage with the audience. That is the No. 1 thing that I am most excited about is these young guys and girls that we can build.”

Cody Rhodes on Arn Anderson getting released: “I can’t really speak to that because I don’t know if it’s confirmed. But that would really shock me if Arn was let go because Arn is responsible for every current top guy. Seth Rollins, John Cena, Charlotte – it’s all Arn. Arn is definitely not corporate and that’s a compliment. You can’t take wrestling out of wrestling people. You can’t. Hopefully that’s not true. He would be valuable anywhere he went whether it’s staying in WWE, the Performance Center, an indie show with 20 people, at New Japan, at ROH, at AEW. Wherever he goes, he’d be valuable.