• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Cody Rhodes credits Ric Flair more than Dusty Rhodes for current character

Posted: Nov 1st 2026 By: Shounak Chakribarti

Cody Rhodes says his current WWE character has a lot stolen from the 1980s Ric Flair.

Appearing on the latest edition of Double Coverage, Rhodes opened up about his current gimmick in WWE. He shared that his current suited character is a lot inspired by Flair rather than by his father, Dusty Rhodes.

“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.”

“It’s funny because he’s wrestling my dad the majority of the 1980s and Dusty’s running common man, man of the people, blue collar. But so much of modern what I do is more stolen from Ric than Dusty [Rhodes], which is hats off to Ric. I mean, what pro wrestler doesn’t want to steal from the greatest of all time? Nature Boy is the best,” he said.

“Some of my peers for a long minute thought that the suits and stuff were real performative, and maybe they were, but after a while it became this really great feeling. You felt professional,” the former WWE Champion added.

However, while Rhodes now presents a much more decked-up version of himself in WWE, he parted ways with the promotion a decade ago due to his frustrations with the Stardust gimmick.