Quotes from Cody Rhodes

When you get a record attendance for What Culture Pro Wrestling - or just recently with Matt Cross, we did a record attendance for Next Gen in Tennessee. These are various brands. They're not rinky-dink. They're small - they're not WWE - but their soul is there.

I try to live under a rock when it comes to WWE, but you can't avoid seeing your Twitter feed, people talking about Jinder Mahal wrestling Randy Orton at a pay-per-view.

I think the yearning for a different product is really strong. WWE hasn't had any significant change since, what, 2001 in wrestling? WWE provides so much good content. Just good, wholesome content, but they're still the only one.

Shane McMahon did his own mo-cap. Did you guys know that? He went and did his own mo-cap. He didn't want somebody doing his moves. Shane did his own mo-cap.

I was a Shawn Michaels fan, so that's a sad memory for me. I'm proud to add a happier memory in that building, even though Christopher Daniels also lost his smile.

There are fans who just like their indie stars, and then there are your more casual fans that are more familiar with somebody like Kurt Angle, and their interest might be piqued.

I believe in hard work, but I believe in vindication as well. You have a few nightmares, I imagine, before you reach your dream.

I always tried to stand out as a ref. I wore a long-sleeve black Under Armour t-shirt so that you knew I was the cool ref as opposed to the old dude.

I am the best in the world. It's 1: Cody; 2: Kenny; 3: Okada; 4: Charlotte; 5: Cena, with Ospreay creeping up on the list. It's my responsibility with the event to live up to that ranking. I am unbelievably good at this because of hard work and dedication.

A lot of times when people are released or, unfortunately, get fired, they almost scramble for what it is they are going to do next. I think when you are no longer working under a big, corporate umbrella, you have to be your own brand, your own enterprise. That was my thought process before I left.

I think it's really exciting for me to see Brandi branch out. Because when you look her up and see her pictures online and see that she was this bikini model, it doesn't tell you that she's got a degree from the University of Michigan or that she attended the master's program and the University of Miami.

My mother stayed at home and raised me and my closest sister, and that meant that the American Dream and what he was doing on television as a character and behind the scenes as a producer was producing for us at home, so it is your life.

It was just my sense being on the ground, doing four unique independents a week and then finally seeing how, at the ROH event, fans react to us as a group. I really see the sport trending upwards.

One of the last things that my dad and I discussed, and it sticks with me today, is that he no longer believed in the concept of Good Guy/Bad Guy. He believed in the idea that one guy is trying to beat the other. However, he would say, 'You can be a Good Guy/Bad Guy, or you can just be a star.'

I had adapted to the blonde. So when they told me I'm going back to do these five episodes of 'Arrow', I was clearly really excited, but when they said I couldn't be blonde, it stung a little.

I'm in the best shape I can possibly be in, and I'm drug-free. I'm doing what I have wanted to do my entire life, so life is good.

To have a record crowd for What Culture, to be in there with Kurt Angle and not to be just, like, Kurt Angle plus garnish, for it instead to be Kurt Angle v. Cody Rhodes, our second match, actually - it was very vindicating. It's also nice, you know: the greatest revenge in all the world is success, so it's nice to be vindicated.

Whenever they bring out a new Zelda game, I'm there. I don't know if it's Link or if it's Zelda with the pointy little ears. I remember thinking as a kid that she was pretty hot.