Cody Rhodes Explains Historical Roots of WWE NIL

Cody Rhodes revealed that his current WWE character draws heavily from 1980s Ric Flair rather than from his father Dusty Rhodes. The former WWE Champion explained that the suited and booted aesthetic along with the concept of flashing cash, jets, suits and high lifestyle comes directly from the Nature Boy persona.

Rhodes made the comments during an appearance on the latest edition of Double Coverage. He noted that while Ric Flair spent the majority of the 1980s wrestling Dusty Rhodes, who portrayed a common man and blue collar character, much of his modern presentation is stolen from Flair instead.

"A lot stolen from the Nature Boy Ric Flair as far as suited and booted and the whole concept of…that big ’80s flashing the cash, the jets, the suits, the high lifestyle that came with it." Rhodes added that some of his peers initially viewed the suits as purely performative. He said that after a while the look created a really great feeling and made him feel professional.

Despite now embracing this decked-up version of himself in WWE, Rhodes left the promotion a decade ago because of frustrations with the Stardust gimmick.