http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20140122/ENTERTAINMENT/140129784?refresh=true
As the son of "The American Dream," Cody Rhodes is well aware of the expectations laid out before him.
The World Wrestling Entertainment superstar is the son of pro wrestling Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of Dustin "Goldust" Rhodes. But Cody isn't worried about the shadow of his family name looming over his career path. In fact, he's looking to make the Rhodes shadow in the wrestling business even larger.
Rhodes will be one of the featured wrestlers at Saturday's "WWE Live," at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.
"The moment you walk in the locker room and say 'I'm Cody Rhodes,' that pressure is on you," Rhodes said.
"But that pressure is the way of the world. It's your choice to accept it, buckle under it, or to treat it as a responsibility. I have no fear about being the son of a Hall of Famer."
Rhodes began his career with Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2006. A year later he was with the WWE, where he has since held the Intercontinental Championship twice and the World Tag Team Championship three times.
"I very much had a goal when I started," Rhodes said. "When I started coming into my own, I wanted to remind people what the Intercontinental Championship was. I was able to do more with that title than anyone in recent memory has done. To me that is an accolade."
While Rhodes lavished the spotlight of holding the Intercontinental belt, his favorite title run was being a tag-team champion alongside his brother.
"Having the opportunity to be a champion alongside Dustin, someone 16 years older than me who I've looked up to my whole life, I don't even look at it so much as an accolade but more as a gift."
Rhodes caught the wrestling bug as a wide-eyed 8-year-old. His father took him out of school to see a World Championship Wrestling event. He was instantly hooked.
"The old man was actually indifferent as to whether I got into the industry or not," Rhodes said. "But when you're a kid and you see up close a guy pick up and body slam someone else, you're not going to want to do anything but wrestle."
The differences between his father's era and now, Rhodes said, lies in the terminology as well as the monopoly the WWE has in the business.
"When he did it, it was pro wrestling," Rhodes said. "Now it's sports entertainment. Plus, the different wrestling territories don't exist. (WWE president) Vince McMahon revolutionized the business."
The WWE's latest venture is a 24/7 subscription service that will cost viewers $9.99 a month. Subscribers will have access to all of the company's pay-per-view events in addition to new programming and their entire catalog of previous events, videos and DVDs. Typical WWE pay-per-view events cost $45 to $50 each.
"The best part about it is the fans get it all," he said.
While the subscription service has Rhodes excited, his favorite aspect of the business is its live, touring shows.
"That's what the superstars like the most," he said. "Think of Raw and Smackdown as a commercial as to what you'll get at the live event. It's a post-holiday super card."
