STARRCAST 3 SPOTLIGHT: From undesirable to undeniable

If “star of the day” was up for grabs going into the main interview of night one at Starrcast 3, Cody quickly squashed that debate and stole the title for himself.

In Thursday’s main event slot titled “From Undesirable to Undeniable,” Cody along with Tony Schiavone stole the show and detailed his complex journey from being the son of Dusty Rhodes, to growing up inside WWE, to his current position as an Executive Vice President of AEW. Cody was calm, cool, collected, funny, and approachable for the entirety of the event. He also exuded confidence in a way that only true stars can.

Cody hit the stage with Schiavone and flipped the script immediately. Questions obviously were supposed to be hurled in his direction and instead, he asked Schiavone to break down what he does with AEW and how his employment with the company came to be. From there, Schiavone successfully took hold of the interview once again and talked with Cody about wanting to be a professional wrestler when he was a kid. Cody said it was something he always wanted to do and never had a viable plan outside of it. Within that discussion, Cody told a heartwarming story of when he realized just how big of a star his father was. The story took place at the Omni after a show and featured Dusty one-upping Sting’s post event pop from an adoring audience in the parking lot of the arena. From there, Cody discussed his brief acting career before detailing how he connected with DDP and made his own introduction with the WWE.

Some brief WWE discussion took place next. Cody talked about how he grew up under the guidance of Vince McMahon and the WWE, but how he could never shake the perception of “being a kid growing up” as his career progressed successfully. In the most riveting part of the day, Cody discussed his relationship with Vince McMahon calling it a good one, but not enough of one for the position he wanted to occupy on the roster.

The attention then shifted to AEW. Cody talked about how the bell to bell action would set their national television show apart from the competition in the fall. He also discussed his role as an Executive Vice President of the company – a role that he openly said he was enjoying, but making mistakes in. With that said, Cody delved into a story about him leading the committee charged with designing and creating the AEW World Championship belt. The story yielded big laughs from the audience and Cody himself. To close, Cody and Schiavone took questions from the crowd including topics on Pharaoh, the Legend Of Zelda, his relationship with the Young Bucks, and more.

Cody is a star and he showed why within the framework of this simple, laid back interview. He commanded attention the moment he walked onto the stage and spoke in a way that captured the audience’s attention. He’s an engaging storyteller that clearly is clicking on all cylinders within what he’s doing as an executive of AEW and as a character in the wrestling ring.

High marks for this event as a whole and certainly worth watching on FITE for those that have this weekend’s Starrcast 3 subscription.