Top WWE Star Recalls Scrapped Plans For Masked Character

WWE

Cody Rhodes has recalled scrapped plans for his Stardust character to receive a mask, revealing that he fought against this addition.

From June 2014 up to his WWE exit in May 2016, Rhodes wrestled as ‘Stardust’, an extravagant character similar to his brother Dustin Rhodes’ Goldust persona.

Speaking with Dale Download with Dale Earnhardt Jr, Rhodes reflected on this gimmick, noting that Vince McMahon initially had plans for him to wear a mask instead of facepaint.

Rhodes noted that he fought McMahon on this as he really didn’t like the mask, describing it as a ‘classic condom blowing up’.

Sharing advice for other wrestlers, Rhodes said:

“The biggest way to turn your fortunes around is to get in the best shape of your career. It’s still a vanity business. You’re still out there, half-naked, oiled up, and the guys behind the operation still have a love for bodybuilding.

“They’re in great shape and in custom suits. That’s one of the first things I tell people, because it helps the mindset too, ‘get in the best possible shape.’

“Had I gotten in the best possible shape in my career and been like, ‘I’m telling you I want to be Cody Rhodes and not Stardust, let me get new gear and present that to you. Let me have this all done up.’ Instead of doing that, I just bottled. I let it swell.

“I thought, ‘if I do that, I still won’t (be pushed).’ That’s not the case. You get in the best shape of your career, it turns heads. If Stardust had 8% body fat and a six-pack and shredded and was handsome, they might be like, ‘What are we doing in this outfit?’

“At one point, I had the paint, but there was an actual mask that was pitched. This was an area where I spoke up. I put it on and it’s like a classic condom blowing up. It looked so bad.

“I get there is an element of humor to what I’m going to do, but they have to be laughing with you, they can’t be laughing at you. It looked like a condom meets Electro from the Spider-Man comics.

“I told Vince (Vince McMahon), ‘I can’t do the mask it looks so bad.’ I went and shaved my head like Dustin. I’m glad the mask never saw the light of day.

“Stardust had some milestones, and I did go into it committed to try and change it, but it wasn’t going to get me anywhere.”

Cody Rhodes has also commented on the level of creative control he had in AEW, which you can read more about right here.

Transcription via Fightful. 

Think you know the most about wrestling? Join our Wrestle League predictions competition for free, and be in with the chance of winning $250 of Amazon vouchers. Make sure you subscribe to email notifications to make sure you never miss a show.

• mask
• Vince McMahon
• Cody Rhodes
• wwe

Share this article with friends