Dusty Rhodes’ complicated relationship with Dustin Rhodes wasn’t just something WWE and WCW turned into a wrestling story. Cody Rhodes says there was real neglect behind it—and one of Dusty’s most famous promos with Dustin was a shoot.
Speaking with Santino Marella on What Do You Wanna Talk About?, Cody opened up about how wrestling affected his family long before he ever had children of his own. The business gave the Rhodes family plenty, but it also kept them apart in ways fans watching them together on television may never have realized.
“One of the things, though, that I found before I ever had kids—and it’s largely now present as well that I do—wrestling can tear the—you can take the family away from each other.”
“But in my case, a lot of my family lived their life on screen. So people don’t realize, as far as my brother and I didn’t grow up together. We didn’t have Thanksgivings together. We didn’t—the age gap was too much. Our—what’s the age gap? Sixteen years. Wow. Us being brothers was on television. Was on TV.”
And Dustin’s relationship with Dusty carried an even more painful reality. Cody brought up Dusty’s famous “The View Never Changes” promo with Dustin, which he considers one of the greatest wrestling promos ever delivered. The problem is that the hurt underneath it wasn’t manufactured for television.
“So Dusty has a promo with Dustin, the ‘View Never Changes’ promo. I think it’s the best promo of all time. But the sad part, it’s a shoot. You know, like that’s a—that’s a tricky thing.”
Cody wasn’t dancing around what Dustin’s side of that story actually was, either. Later in the conversation, he acknowledged that Dusty gave Cody an upbringing with him that Dustin simply didn’t get.
“But I would go, you know, he brought me everywhere with him. Whereas Dustin didn’t get that experience.”
That difference matters. Cody got to travel with Dusty, experience the wrestling business alongside him and share moments that became some of his most important childhood memories. Dustin’s story included something much harder: feeling neglected by his father.
But Cody also watched that relationship eventually heal, which is why he doesn’t believe Dustin’s story ends with the neglect.
“The beautiful thing, I saw it come together eventually, was he wasn’t just telling the story of neglect. He was telling the story of what it all looks like and how ultimately, if there’s enough love, forgiveness, and ultimately these moments coming together matter.”
That complicated history has also shaped how Cody approaches bringing his own family into wrestling. Rather than completely separating the two worlds, he wants them to share some of the experience with him.
“And I would always err on the side of—I, I’m good with having them on TV. I’m good because I don’t want them to not share in this. They may not know what it is right now, but I want them to share in this.”
Cody knows exactly what those moments can mean because Dusty gave him one when he was only eight years old.
“You know, when my dad brought me on stage for his WCW Hall of Fame, I thought that was the biggest night of my life. I thought I was debuting in the wrestling business. You know, I was eight years old. Right? Eight. And I got to—I got to share it with him.”
“So it certainly gives, and it takes.”
That might be the simplest way to describe the Rhodes family’s relationship with wrestling. It gave Cody experiences with Dusty that he still treasures, but Cody openly acknowledges Dustin didn’t get the same father—and some of the painful “neglect” fans eventually watched them address on television was very real.
Do you think knowing Dusty and Dustin’s issues were real makes “The View Never Changes” promo even more powerful? Let us know in the comments below.
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