Cody Rhodes Discusses His Emotional Double or Nothing Promo and Dusty Rhodes Comparisons

Cody Rhodes versus Dustin Rhodes may not have been Double or Nothing‘s main event, but it was unquestionably the most emotional conflict of All Elite Wrestling’s debut pay-per-view. After defeating his older half-brother and leaving him in a bloody heap, Cody grabbed a microphone and delivered a tearful promo to Dustin.

“I’ve got to ask you a favor,” Rhodes said. “In front of God and the whole world. … I put my name on a piece for our show next month in Jacksonville, Fight For the Fallen. And do you know what the match was that I put my name down on? It was myself and a partner of my choosing against what I think is the best tag team in the world, the Young Bucks.

Both brothers’ eyes welled up with tears as Dustin made his way to his feet.

“But Dustin, I don’t need a partner. I don’t need a friend. I need my older brother,” Cody said. The two embraced as the sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena erupted.

In an interview with ComicBook.com this week, Cody revealed that Dustin had no idea he was going to cut that promo afterwards

“It’s hilarious that Dustin didn’t really report this, and I guess that’s okay, but he didn’t know it was coming,” Cody said. “And that was one of the biggest gifts I could possibly give. Not just to my brother, but to a veteran talent who deserves respect and admiration. He didn’t know we were going there, he didn’t know the direction I wanted to take it.

“Dustin doesn’t work for AEW,” he continued. “He came in for one show. And one show now became two shows.”

Numerous fans pointed out the similarities between Cody’s promo and the famous “The View Never Changes” promo Dusty Rhodes cut with Dustin back in 1994 in WCW.

Cody addressed the similarities in the interview, while also adding that even though that particular promo from is father is beloved by many fans, it’s not one of his personal favorites.

“It was a little on purpose, but I guess a little bit more symbiotic,” Rhodes said. “That promo, people really like ‘The View Never Changes,’ kind of how it’s up there with ‘Hard Times’ in terms of Dusty Rhodes promos. However, it’s probably his best but it’s one of my least favorite because it was an actual situation. And our family, in a cathartic fashion, sometimes like to air our laundry in front of the world and that was a real-life situation. The neglect, and the lack of having Dusty in his life. And he [Dusty] used that moment to try and endorse Dustin as best as he possibly could and try to apologize to Dustin. He was apologizing for a fictional circumstance onscreen but a real circumstance behind the screen.”

“People love it, but I can’t put it up there as a promo because I knew how real it was,” he continued.

He then pointed out how he started his promo the same way Dusty did.

“I think at the beginning I said, ‘I’ve got to ask you a favor.’ And that just wasn’t planned,” Cody said. “But if you watch something so many times, then you’re going to mirror it, you’re going to reflect it.

“We’re both Dusty’s kids, and sometimes you step into those shoes,” he added.

Photo: Ricky Havlik