Dustin Rhodes opens up about how he’s feeling physically and what he does to stay in shape.
All Elite Wrestling’s Dustin Rhodes is 30-plus years into his career and currently, he assists AEW’s women’s division with their training and runs his Rhodes Wrestling Academy school on top of his in-ring obligations. Dustin was a guest on ‘Way of the Blade’ and touched on how he’s feeling physically.
He wants to contribute as much as he can before he retires. Dustin looks at someone like Sting who is in his 60s and while Sting does not wrestle on a consistent basis, he is spotlighted when he does and Rhodes thinks Tony Khan handles him in the same manner. He added that he is taking care of his body but his knees and shoulders are giving him trouble and he needs replacements.
For regular people, they get in the business and become a good pro wrestler. I can understand them getting out and maybe not liking it as much as me, right? Or as much as somebody who was born into it, because you look at the sons of the famous wrestlers, like Mr. Perfect or Barry Windham, like me, like Cody [Rhodes], like — there’s a few that really stand out and it’s because we were kind of raised around it I think and to be honest with you, our fathers were really good and my father was not a great wrestler, right? He had charisma though. He could shake and tell those stories with his face and bounce around and the people felt that thing and Cody has a little bit of that but to me, I believe that I am the true wrestler out of the family; really good storyteller, really good worker. Could I be better? Hell yeah I could. Do I regret anything? Absolutely not, none, zero. I’ve had a hell of a career and you know, I wanna keep contributing as much as possible before I retire but you know, I look at Sting right now and he’s 62 and he’s utilized a little bit. He’s not utilized a lot [in the ring] and that’s good. So I can do this man. I know I can do this but I don’t wanna be a Ric Flair, to where I have to wrestle to pay my bills, right? I don’t want that. I don’t wanna go abuse my body. Utilize me and Tony [Khan’s] really good about that; taking good care of me and I know that he will and I believe in that. There’s a trust thing that I have with Tony. He’s been very good to me so that’s all I can ask for man and if he asks me to do something, I’m gonna do it [to] the best of my ability and bring a rating because every time I’ve been on the TV, my ratings have been strong so I’m good, I’m good with it and whatever comes next is great. As long as I can stay healthy because let’s face it, my knees are hurting, my shoulders are hurting, I need replacements and I put on a little band-aid from time to time to get through and I do a good job of it and I take care of my body and I try and stay in shape and I’m always, always on the go in the gym because I truly do believe if you sit down and you just relax, it’s gonna catch up to you real quick and you’re gonna die, that’s it. You sit, you die. I believe in that, truly so I got to keep stepping.
Dustin came over to All Elite Wrestling after leaving WWE in early 2019. He thought he was going to be done in wrestling after WWE because of how drained he was creatively. Dustin was looking into what could be next for him after wrestling.
I got really busy and things with my father, we had a little falling out and things like that but we got back together but I was kind of out of Cody [Rhodes’] life for like five, six years and I regret that. Then we had that tremendous run in WWE with the Tag Team Titles with The Shield and all that and it went on with The Usos, with so many great tag teams and just had a really fun time with Cody and he got out before I did and then finally I get out and I see the things that are going on with AEW being started up and all and you know man, I just — I thought I was done to be honest with you. I really thought I was done. I was so depleted emotionally, my passion was gone completely. It drained everything that I had up there. Every creative bone in my body was like it’d left me and I thought genuinely that I was gone and you know, then sitting at home for whatever it is, the 90-day non-compete clause, right? And I’m just chomping at the bit to get the thinking of what I can do to go out there because let’s be honest man, I’ve been a pro wrestler my whole life and you know, I was weighing options, ‘Do I go back to college? Do I do this? Do I do that? I can do anything I want’ but it’s just like, you know, I’ve also been dabbling in acting and really want to make an impact in the acting world.
Rhodes’ last televised match was against Bryan Danielson in the World Title Eliminator tournament. He appears on AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation on a semi-regular basis and normally accompanies talents to the ring for their matches.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Way of the Blade with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
