Exclusive: Cody Rhodes on his to-do list & what he wants more people to know
New Japan Pro Wrestling -- the second largest (and one of the fastest-growing) pro wrestling organizations in the world -- will hold its biggest U.S. event ever, the G1 Special In San Francisco, at the Cow Palace on Saturday, July 7th. Luckily for fans outside of the San Francisco, the historic event will also be broadcast nationally live on AXS TV.
The card of the G1 Special In San Francisco is scheduled to include the following big matches:
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Cody
IWGP Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. SANADA & EVIL
IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Jay White vs. Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
As with all NJPW broadcasts on AXS TV, broadcasting for the G1 Special In San Francisco will be handled by WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross and former UFC Heavyweight Champion and NJPW veteran Josh Barnett.
AXS TV -- which is also home to original programming by Dan Rather, Eddie Trunk, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Money and Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood -- broadcasts NJPW matches every Friday night at 8:00 PM EST, as followed by AXS TV Fights.
On behalf of Sportskeeda, I had the pleasure of calling into a conference call featuring Cody. Cody kindly answered two of my questions:.
After leaving WWE, you posted a "to-do list" on social media, which you seem to have fulfilled quickly. What are you still hoping to accomplish within your career?
Cody: That's a good question. I think I got through the list the best I could. Roderick Strong, he avoided me. Not really. I don't think the timing was there with all that, so that one's not scratched off the list...
I think the next thing that naturally came for me to do is... When push came to shove I was told I couldn't put butts in seats. I said, "No, I can." I put my own money into it to show you that I can, and I have two of the best partners in the world, Matt and Nick Jackson [of The Young Bucks], the kings of DIY. I've learned so much from them. If there was a second list, it would be just one box with "All In" next to it. That one doesn't get checked off until we hit an absolute grand slam.
I'm gonna puke if one more person comes up and tells me how important All In is to wrestling. It's not important to wrestling unless we hit a grand slam. That's the goal, so that would be important from here. That would be the next "to do."
What do you wish more people knew about you?
Cody: I don't know, that's such a good question. I'll have to think about that. My life has all been on the record. My family is public, everything's come out, I don't think we have any secrets. I'm staring at my dog right now... No, no secrets about me. (laughs)