Earlier this month, Inside The Ropes had Cody Rhodes over to the UK and Ireland for two Evening With events.
During the Manchester show, Cody discussed WWE Battleground 2013, original plans, his memories and what it meant to Dusty Rhodes to be a part of it. Below is a quote from Rhodes, and you can watch footage of the appearance in the video player below:
My dad literally couldn’t get in the ring. I can tell you everything Battleground was supposed to be. It was supposed to be War Games, that’s why it was called Battleground. It was me, and these other fired guys vs The Shield, and it was going to be something different. Dustin [Goldust] went out there and had that good match and it ended up being that special Rhodes vs Shields moment. My dad couldn’t get in the ring and I was really worried about him; his knees. He hated coming back as an old man, hated it. He wanted to, like, my mother, she asked my dad a few years before he passed because he was getting sick. She asked what can she do for him? He just said, make me young again. That’s what he wanted to be. He hated old wrestlers. He loves Ric to death, but when he would see Ric on TV he would just shake his head. When he would go to those conventions where they get him out to do them, he just couldn’t believe what he was seeing, because he wanted people to remember him for him. I assured him that they were going to love him, he was Dusty Rhodes, and you won’t have to get in the ring or do anything. The only thing he could do, he would say, maybe I can take off my belt and whip it at Dean [Ambrose], but his jeans were too big because he lost all this weight, and Jamie Noble was like, please tell him not to take his belt off, and I said ok. Of course, if you watch it back, he takes his belt off and is taking a really long time with it. [Dean] Ambrose is just flawless in how he was dealing with it, but we just had this good match, but because of what he did on the outside and does the elbow. When you have people stand up and it’s not the finish, that’s as real as anything. I don’t give a damn what you say about wrestling. When he hit that elbow, it’s like I was watching Legends of the Fall, and it was his last stand. That was all he wanted. He didn’t want to come back to do the Goldust and Stardust thing, and I don’t blame him for that because he felt so good about that moment at Battleground. He was so proud of that moment as a performer. I remember him and Vince [McMahon] had this nice embrace afterwards and Vince told him that was one of the best matches he’s ever seen, and these two rival competitors had this hug; what a great night. I love the old man so much, and I just wasn’t ready to lose him.
