Dustin Rhodes On What’s Next For Him After Fight For the Fallen, Working With the Young Bucks

Jul 15, 2019 - by James Walsh

During Saturday night’s post-AEW Fight For the Fallen media scrum, Dustin Rhodes discussed his match with the Young Bucks at the show, what’s next for him and more. You can see our full report from the show here, while highlights and video from Rhodes’ comments are below courtesy of Chris Van Vliet:

On what’s next for him: “I’ve always been a singles player, but I’m also good in tag teams. And to go out there tonight with my brother, you know. The Brotherhood back together again was a special moment. Much like Double or Nothing was a special moment, the most special moment for me. Tonight was, you know, it was hot, I’m 50. I went out there and I think I put on a good show. Were you not entertained? Okay, good. I don’t know. We’re gonna see where it goes here in a couple of weeks. Maybe have some talks, maybe do some thinking. I wanna get into acting a little bit, but I found a new passion. That’s AEW. And it’s a lot of fun, because you walk around here and you see these guys in the back who are different from the ones that I’m used to. And everybody is ‘Yes, hey, hey, hey,’ you know, happy, hungry, passionate about AEW succeeding. Because they are. Every match we just step it up, step it up, step it up. And it is, we are actually changing the business. And it’s a revolution, and it’s exciting to be a part of this, and it shows on all of their faces. And they are excited. And when you get excited, you go out and your perform the best you can, right?”

On the biggest personal change for him after Double or Nothing: “When I was at the other company, I felt like I’d lost my passion a little bit, you know. Because you’re sitting in the back, and you have so much to offer the business, because you’ve been in it all your life. And that’s what you do good. And they wouldn’t give me the opportunity to go out there and shine. It’s very frustrating, right? So I get out of Papillon, I like to say. I get out of prison, and I’m free. And I can do what I want to do. And that call, you know, from Cody happened. Put it together, Double or Nothing, I trained my butt off for that match. I mean, this was the most important thing that I would ever do in my 31 years in the business. And it was. And from the start to the finish, that match was, to me, perfection. I mean, we could actually do no wrong. They were there with everything, the story we told in two promos leading up to that match is so old-school, it takes you back to 1986 or between ’86 and 1991. And that’s me, I love to tell stories, I love to entertain that way. I’d like to let the people see that I’m actually almost dying out there. But then you see, the babyface makes that comeback, you know, and it’s like ‘Oh god, here we go.’ And it gets you invested, and that’s what I do good. I love that psychology. From that match, it was like, at the end of that match I was on cloud nine for at least three weeks. I mean, I felt good. I felt good and rightfully so I think. Because I did good at 50 years old, and Cody is much younger, but he gave me that opportunity. Tony Khan gave me that opportunity, and I came in, and I nailed it. And it was fun, and I’m glad to go out there again today in the 100 degree humidity, and go out there and sweat like crazy and do it again, but with my brother this time. It was very, very special for me.”

On working with the Young Bucks: “You know, up there when I was with the other company, and I’d seen them around, you know, and — they’re very impressive. They do some unbelievable stuff, unreal stuff in that ring. And it’s like, ‘Holy moly, now I have to wrestle all these guys’ and they do all this stuff. And I’m just thinking to myself like, ‘God, do I have it in me?’ I’m 50 years old — even though it’s just a number. Fifty is the new 30 or whatever the saying goes. I felt good about it, but I was nervous because I wanted to be there for everything for them because I still had something to prove that I can hang with the kids because they are much younger than me. And I think I did a good job tonight. They seem to be pretty pleased. Tony’s pleased, everybody was pleased. I hope the fans were pleased. I mean, that’s all I can ask for.”

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