5 things we learned from Cody Rhodes on E&C's Pod of Awesomeness

This year, we could see a huge change in the landscape of the wrestling business. Wrestlers from different promotions are coming together to be a part of a huge indy supershow.

An ambitious project turned into a potential glowing success for Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks. They promoted a show in a 10,000 seat arena, which is a huge number for independent wrestling. Having set the foundation for it and announced the venue for it, Cody and the Bucks were hopeful of selling out the arena for the show.

Tickets went on sale last Sunday and within half an hour, yes half an hour, every single ticket was sold out. They never expected it to happen so quickly. It is a remarkable achievement for Cody Rhodes, who took a huge gamble on this show. This was his idea, and it was working. This makes him an even bigger star than what he already was on the indies. He is possibly the biggest wrestling star who isn't currently in WWE.

Cody appeared on Edge and Christian's Pod of Awesomeness this week, and it was a really fun podcast to listen to. They spoke about many things ranging from All In to his WWE career and his departure from the WWE. It's a really good listen, and here are five things we learned from Cody's chat with Edge and Christian.

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#1 All In ticket day was the second best day of his life

Cody and the Young Bucks

When tickets went for sale on Sunday, 13th May, everybody who had promoted the show expected a steady increase in ticket sales. Cody was hoping for around 4,000 tickets to be sold within the first month before announcements of matches on the card would gradually help to increase the sales over time.

What happened blew everyone's mind. Cody, along with the Young Bucks were sitting in a jeep when the tickets went for sale online. He tried to purchase a ticket, but couldn't because of the heavy traffic on the site. As soon as the box office called him to inform that the tickets were sold out, it became one of the best days of his life.

Cody said that the only day better than this was his wedding day. An overwhelming response from the fans completely shattered his expectations for All In ticket sales. They had set an advertising budget for the show but now, having sold out all the tickets, they have additional funds to focus on other elements of the show. Don't be surprised if you see some pyrotechnics on September 1st, the promoter himself has teased it.

#2 Wrestlemania 27 was Cody's first PPV singles match

Cody beat Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania XXVII

After delving into the revolutionary show he was promoting, Cody spoke to Edge and Christian about his career in WWE. He was thrust into the spotlight pretty quickly as part of a trio of multi-generational wrestlers called Legacy. He had been in a decent spot ever since he came onto the scene, so it came as a surprise when he said that his match with Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania in 2011 was his first one-on-one singles match on a pay-per-view.

Cody wrestled numerous pay-per-view matches as a tag team wrestler, with Ted Dibiase, Randy Orton and later, Drew McIntyre. He, alongside Dibiase, even went toe-to-toe against Triple H and Shawn Michaels multiple times, in a bitter feud that lasted months. He had wrestled triple threat matches, Tag Team Championship matches, and even lasted until the final four of the 2009 Royal Rumble Match before his first one-on-one match on pay-per-view.

Cody's first singles match on pay-per-view came on the biggest stage possible. He and Mysterio had a good match, which was widely regarded as one of the best of the show. When Mysterio pitched the idea of the match to Vince McMahon, Cody thought that he was getting ribbed by the masked luchador. Things like this support the fact that Rey Mysterio is a credit to the wrestling business.

#3 Cody wasn't supposed to be in the Legacy triple threat at 'Mania 26

Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton

and

Ted Dibiase

Cody's WrestleMania debut came the previous year in 2010, as he was part of a triple threat match featuring the members of Legacy. But he was not supposed to be in the match. The original plan for WrestleMania 26 was to have Randy Orton face Ted Dibiase in a singles match, without Cody getting involved.

Cody spoke about how he wasn't going to appear at 'Mania before Orton stepped in. He made the pitch to change the match into a triple threat match because he thought Cody deserved it. With the triple threat match, we got a full-blown Legacy implosion and certainly, a more satisfying ending to the Legacy storyline than we would have ever gotten.

This was one of the better spots he got at WrestleMania during his WWE career and a very valuable first experience. Cody has The Viper to thank for that.

#4 Christian was his favorite opponent in WWE

Cody and Christian always worked well together

Cody was a good wrestler in WWE, who probably did not receive all the opportunities he would have wanted. However, he says that the people who work hard enough do get rewarded. It is well documented that Cody believes that WWE do not hold talent back and that he still loves the company he used to wrestle for.

He had quite a few great matches in WWE, most of them being tag team matches. He did have some fun singles matches against a variety of opponents. From the wrestlers he shared the ring with in WWE, his favorite was Christian. And this isn't just because he was speaking to him, Christian is one of the smoothest in-ring competitors in WWE history and is very well-respected among his peers.

They worked a lot together throughout 2010 when they were both on Smackdown. However, the matches Cody and Christian had in 2012 over the Intercontinental Championship are much better remembered. Their series of matches were some of the best IC Title bouts in the early 2010s when the title was not in a very good state.

#5 Everybody thought that him leaving WWE was a terrible decision

Cody with the statue of his father, the late, great American Dream

The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes sadly passed away in June 2015. After the tragedy, Cody had no intention to play his wacky alter-ego, Stardust anymore. But he had to continue doing so, so he did. Shortly after WrestleMania 32, Cody had had enough and couldn't keep up with it.

WWE wanted to fix him, but he had already decided on leaving. Cody said that he didn't want them to fire him, and he didn't want them to fix him. He requested for his release from WWE and was granted it. People thought this was a huge mistake and tried to advise Cody to stay. His brother, Dustin even tried to tell WWE to make him stay. Cody said that the only person who believed in him at that time, was his wife, Brandi. Nobody believed in him, but Cody had a plan to fix himself and boy, did he?

Cody turned all those doubters into believers. He has made it on his own in the wrestling business outside the biggest wrestling company in the world. And he didn't use his family's name to achieve it. The All In show on September 1st signifies how far Cody has made it on his own, as a wrestler, as a promoter, and as a man. The American Dream is looking down from heaven, so proud of his little boy making it big.