Cody Rhodes Talks Adam Cole, TNA, And Why He Doesn’t Miss The Road To WrestleMania

Cody Rhodes recently spoke with CBS Local Sports about his former employer–the WWE–and what he's been up to since he left. You can read some highlights below:

Does he miss the hype of WrestleMania season?:

"The Road to WrestleMania always gets people buzzing. And if they'd fallen off a little bit, they'll come back around this time. But for me, I don't feel any longing for it or feel any nostalgia over it. I just did Wrestle Kingdom in front of 40,000 in the Tokyo Dome. They tell you that it's a lot like WrestleMania. I didn't believe that until I actually got there and saw the scope of the production and size of the stage and the incredible matches. And the main event is a match that people are going to be talking about for years and years to come with Okada and Kenny Omega. So, it really hasn't hit me yet. Maybe it's because I was with WWE for so long. I'm doing only a few shows during WrestleMania week that happened to be in Orlando. I kind of don't want to be around the WrestleMania experience, not because I don't like it or [don't] want to be around my friends, but because like [with] any job, 10 years is a long time be anywhere."

His thoughts on Adam Cole:

"About two years ago, when Kevin Owens debuted in WWE, he and I became buddies. I started to look more into Kevin's past in terms of where he came from and what he did in PWG and ROH. That's when I got my first glimpse of Adam Cole. He was a guy that was no brainer. When I saw him, I judged a book by its cover, because this guy looks 100 percent like a WWE superstar. I wondered why or when [he would be signed]. What's the story? I love that he loves the history and won multiple ROH championships. I love that he's sharpening his tool-sets at ROH. He could be the ROH champion for the next 10 years or go somewhere tomorrow. Adam Cole is a name you know. He and the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are great examples of guys that did it without WWE. That doesn't mean they won't go to WWE at some point, but they don't need to because of what they've done to make their name. That's really impressive. It's inspiring because I need WWE 100 percent. It's inspiring. It's what gave me the nudge to go out and do this without WWE."

How he feels about TNA's new ownership:

"I was really impressed. Part of going to the taping was meeting with the new owners, and it was really nice to see a revitalized situation. You hear all of this trash talk toward TNA. However, every time I've been, the crowd at the Impact Wrestling Zone has been excellent. This last time they had double the crowd size and really streamlined production. They have some really good minds that have just joined and come onboard. The production of TNA and WWE's NXT is very similar in that it's classic studio wrestling. You've got fans on two or three sides and it's designed more for cameras in terms of studio wrestling. I'd encourage people, if they're critics or TNA or have heard only bad things, to check it out at some point. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Cody Rhodes also discussed wrestling all over the world and his wife training to become a wrestler. You can read the full interview at this link.