Exclusive: Brandi Rhodes Talks Transitioning From Announcing To The Ring

TheSportster

By Jim Parsons

Published Mar 5, 2018

Brandi Rhodes is a great success story in Ring of Honor, and she spoke with TheSportster about transitioning from announcer to wrestler.

Former WWE ring announcer and now Ring of Honor wrestler, Brandi Rhodes recently spoke with The Sportster and provided some insight on how her last couple years have been in the professional wrestling industry.

At one point, Brandi was largely viewed as the wife of Cody Rhodes, until she and her husband left WWE in May of 2016. Since that day, she and Cody have been successfully touring making stops in GFW, Impact Wrestling, and Ring of Honor and she will be competing for the first-ever Women of Honor Championship. No longer just "Cody's wife", Brandi Rhodes has been making a name for herself in the industry.

Wrestling was always something Brandi Rhodes wanted to do. A ring announcer to start with, she had asked to be given a shot as a wrestler but WWE was too concerned that letting her depart her role as ring announcer would leave a huge hole. Originally planned to have a role that was eventually given to Summer Rae (an announcer turned wrestler), she excelled as a ring announcer, but she wanted to do more. Rhodes was confident she could make the change.

"I treated the job of ring announcer as if it was the most important job in the world... I think it just made it too comfortable," says Rhodes, "...so when I'd ask [to transition into the ring], the response I'd get was ' well, who's going to be our announcer?'... they didn't want to lose me in that position."

Rhodes wasn't upset, but it did make the decision to move on from WWE that much easier. Many fans and wrestling insiders deemed Cody and Brandi's exit as risky, and even if it was, that didn't concern Brandi Rhodes.

"There's no such thing as a risk when it comes to jobs with me. I've always been a risk-taker," she said. "I like to take risks.... Sometimes you do those things and you don't make it, but you can always get back up... Any failure isn't really failure to me. I can fall on my ass 17 but as long as I get up 18, we're good."

She knew she'd made the right choice the minute she stepped onto a Ring of Honor stage. Worried the crowd wouldn't react, she was elated to hear them erupt for her and she can see in the faces and hear in their cheers they want her to succeed.

Now, Rhodes is blazing a trail of her own in the ring. Currently competing in the Women of Honor tournament to crown the first ever women's champion in the promotion, Rhodes is set to take on Tenille Dashwood (formerly known as Emma) in the second round.

Rhodes has proved that there isn't only one game in town when it comes to making it in professional wrestling. Good for her too. She wasn't afraid to take a risk, understood the opportunity wasn't coming for her and made the change, and it's certainly paid off.