The departure of Cody Rhodes from the WWE earlier this year has been one of the most talked about issued in the industry for quite some time since he was regarded as one for the future and after being in the indusrty for a considerable period of time, he asked the company to release him from his contract which made the whole rather extraordinary. Recently Rhodes went on The Ric Flair Show and spoke about his decision to quit the WWE and how it could in fact turn out ot be a way of rebranding himself. He said, "There are a lot of motivations for my departure from WWE, but, certainly, like, wanting to prove something." He went on to say, "I can tell you 100% that WWE and myself have gone separate ways. I saw even there was a rumor about, like, a merchandising contract, but I think that might extend from the fact that the only discussion, post-WWE, was about my dad's books and it was very important to me that they granted me the rights to write his book before I left, but it was important. I knew that was one of the big risks I was taking with leaving."
However, Rhodes has an interesting take on the career of his WWE colleague Dolph Ziggler, who he feels did not get the required recognition because he is not as big as some of the other super stars in the WWE. He said, "He's a very tough kid and he's one of those [guys] who has the earned reputation, backstage at least, of 'you're going to get tied up if this goes further'. He's the real deal.I think that people forget because he's not necessarily as big as Brock Lesnar or Jack Swagger or some of the guys with an amateur acumen, Dolph Ziggler is like Kent State's most winning wrestler. That man, when he wants to, we had a couple [of matches]. [Flair] watched him in that referee's position that one time, there were a couple of nights where I was a little worried and then getting a little pissed too, like, 'well, I'm going to give him the best thing I find in Georgia, the old double leg something.'"
