Dustin Rhodes: I Heard From So Many Peers That Me vs. Cody Wasn’t Going To Work

Dustin Rhodes discusses his match with his brother.

At All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing, Dustin and Cody Rhodes stole the show with a bloody back-and-forth affair that ended with the two brothers hugging it out in the middle of the ring. For years Dustin and Cody had pushed to face each other at WWE WrestleMania but were regulated to Fastlane in 2015. When the match was announced for AEW Double or Nothing, it was met with skepticism by fans who watched their WWE performance.

Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho, Dustin revealed the backstage sentiment to the match.

“I heard a lot from [people] in the back that they didn’t like it and that it would never work. I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’ve watched Owen vs. Bret [Hart] and Matt vs. Jeff [Hardy].’ It can work if you give it some substance and it organically grows,” said Dustin. “[Dusty] never really said anything. He wasn’t against it, and he wasn’t necessarily for it. He was more reserved in his thoughts and got behind whatever we want to do. I appreciate that, but I heard it from so many peers, ‘It’s no good. It will not work.’ It’s frustrating to hear that. We proved everybody wrong. I will never face my brother again. I cannot top it.”

As far as the idea of how Dustin wanted to be presented at AEW Double or Nothing, Dustin stated that Cody didn’t want a throwback to The Natural and he also didn’t want Goldust. In the end, Cody left Dustin up to his own idea.

“[Cody] didn’t want just Dustin. He had his vision of what he wanted, and he left it in my ballpark. He didn’t want the ‘cowboy carny ass bullshit.’ I took my old designs and added some new stuff and doing it without sleeves for the first time. I’m not an Adonis with my body. Cody is the only Rhodes’ with abs. I worked really hard, lost weight, and I think I looked decent in a suit. I went sleeveless because I wanted to show off my ink. Cody said, ‘You’re the artist. Come up with the paint.’ I looked at Darth Maul because one paint job I did as Goldust was kind of Darth Maul. But I reversed the colors, so it wasn’t a complete rip-off of Darth Maul and put some silver in there.”

While Dustin promised that he wouldn’t wrestle his brother again, he will team with his brother at AEW Fight for the Fallen when they face The Young Bucks.