The WWE superstar known as Stardust is what you'd call a colorful character, even by professional wrestling standards. Adorned in star-shaped face paint and his special "mevlar" bodysuit and gloves, he's eccentric, enigmatic, and a bit other-worldly whenever he makes an appearance on such WWE television shows as Raw and Smackdown. He's also quite entertaining.
A space oddity of sorts who's just to the left of Mars, Stardust is a bizarre being who's obsessed with the cosmos and fills his interviews with references to astronomy, comic books, and other unusual subject matter. Since debuting last summer, the character (portrayed by wrestler Cody Rhodes) has also sought such objects as the "Cosmic Key" or the "Ivory Enterprise."
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In truth, it's just Stardust's colorful monikers for the WWE's different championships and part of his gimmick (the Cosmic Key, for instance, is his name for the tag team title).
And up until last month, Stardust was partnered with his equally unusual half-brother Goldust (a.k.a. Dustin Rhodes) in his various pursuits until the two had a falling out and started going toe-to-toe in the ring.
This weekend, the two will face off during the WWE's live event at the Talking Stick Resort Arena on Saturday night. And on Sunday, March 29, at WrestleMania 31, Stardust will be one of seven superstars battling in a ladder match for the WWE's Intercontinental Championship, which he has dubbed the "Ivory Enterprise."
We recently had a chance to interview Stardust via telephone recently and, true to form, our conversation was just as out there as one of his interviews. He stayed in character the entire time when informing us about why he's seeking the "Ivory Enterprise," if he's disappointed about not facing Goldust at WrestleMania, and whether he was inspired by David Bowie's legendary alter-ego Ziggy Stardust.
Greetings, Stardust. How goes your quest for the Ivory Enterprise? Ooooooooh, you said it. It goes and it goes and it goes well. It continues. I no longer have a pair of fine Mevlar gloves wrapped around the Ivory Enterprise, but indeed I will be at WrestleMania in the match for the Intercontinental Championship, so it looks like good fortune in Stardust's future.
Have you ever noticed the resemblance from yourself and the character Starman from the old Pro Wrestling game on the original Nintendo? Believe it or not, and Stardust does have a bit of a background in the gaming world. I did not know [about] this, the similarities until is was almost too late. Someone on Twitter created "A Winner is You" photo where the put over the classic pink Starman picture they put my paint and I. And I thought that was actually a good use of social media to entertain me. But I never noticed. We could be brothers.
In the contest of your upcoming match at WrestleMania, would that make Wade Barrett like Fighter Hayabusa or Dolph Ziggler like King Slender? Oh, absolutely. You must know, the other galaxies around us are moving away from the Milky Way at 90 percent the speed of light. So there is a potential that we all could have doppelgangers, bothers, alter egos, versions of ourselves, just like you said, just all vibrating on a different frequency.
So are you from another planet? No!
You're not from the planet Kayfabe or whatever? I am not from the planet, I believed it's pronounced "kah-fah-bay," I am not, no. Recently, WWE sent out a large memo, top brass, higher ups, we're talking the all the big chief executive officers, all of them, to the WWE ring announce staff, including the beauuuuuuuuuuuutiful Eden that I am to be announced from my actual home, that being the Fifth Dimension.
Are you in any way related to Ziggy Stardust? To tell you the truth, you're cutting to the bone with the hard-hitting questions. Ziggy Stardust might have had something to do with Stardust in the form that he appears in WWE. The earth medium that is music, the pop culture, the entertainment that this little ball of water has, is very, very, popular out amongst the stars. And Ziggy Stardust has made it very far. So, you could almost blame Ziggy Stardust for the incarnation we have of Stardust that we have today.
But you're a space oddity in your own right? I would say so. I don't know if oddity [is right]. It depends on how you're throwing that around. I don't know. I believe him and I can stand on a similar plane.
Well, you have to agree that you're one of the most unique WWE superstars out there. I would say so. And I compliment you on your broadcast journalism. In that sense, I would absolutely say so.
Are you like a living comic book character, in a sense? I think there are a lot of similarities. And I think people don't understand things and then they become afraid of things. They're always afraid of what they don't know. And when they don't know something, they try to parrot, they find control in trying to compare it to something that they already know.
So there have been comparisons to various comic book rogues. I've heard a lot of Green Goblins from the Osborne family as of late and I could see the similarities. I, by no means, have a comic book of my own, even though Tiger Mask has a comic book of his own, even though Jushin Liger had a comic book of his own. I don't know why Stardust can't get a comic book of his own, but Green Goblin is one I hear a lot.
There's going to be a one-way trip to Mars and they're only going to select a certain number of people. Could you see Stardust taking that trip? Aaaaaaabsoluuuuuetly...not. Because the people going to Mars have the task of terraforming Big Red. And I would say that Stardust, he loves adventure, he loves excitement, he loves getting his hands dirty, but I have become acustomed to the many pleasures of this little ball of water that is earth and I, by no means want to be part of terraforming Mars. Once they have it up and running, once there's oxygen flowing on the planet, Stardust would love to visit Big Red.
You could be the first WWE superstar to have a match on Mars. Absolutely...and Triple H is booking shows all over the world. He is putting WWE everywhere there is to be put. If he was to do a show off-planet without Stardust, I would have bone, a Wampa-sized bone to pick with him.
You obtained the Cosmic Key when you won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Goldust. If you combined the Cosmic Key with the Ivory Enterprise, could you unlock the secrets of the WWE Universe? That's a very good question. I mean, you think about the magnitude, right? You think about it, but it's almost old school in a sense. You look at guys like Bret "The Hitman" Hart and you would say, he's a Triple Crown [winner]. He had the Intercontinental Championship, he had the the WWE Tag Team Championship, and then, he had the WWE Heavyweight Championship. When you look at it in that sense, then you look at how powerful their legacies [and] how their names last forever, and that's why anybody does this.
Anybody, as ridiculous as they may seem, as much of a character as they may seem, as so far from earth as they may seem, the only reason why any WWE superstar steps in the ring is to make it so their name last forever. And the way to do so is to take everything, to take it all. Unlock the secrets of the universe. Are they Infinity Gems themselves? All these things, who knows? We could literally enter not even a black hole, which, if you know, if you enter a black hole it basically makes your body like spaghetti. Did you know that?
Yes. Think of that and then think of what happens when Stardust becomes a Triple Crown guy, what happens at WrestleMania when Stardust ascends, rung by rung by rung by rung, the ladder and captures the Ivory Enterprise -- his first singles title in the WWE. It's mind-blowing.
Do you have a moniker for the WWE Championship? I do.
What is it? I cannot reveal it at this time.
Okay. When you touch down in Phoenix this weekend, what is your mission? I have a lot of questions about Phoenix. I mean, the Phoenix Suns, right?
Um...yeah. Here you are taking a star, I mean, a very popular star out amongst the cosmos. Consider the sun the varsity quarterback in high school -- he's the man, the head honcho. Using the sun as a mascot, this makes Phoenix instantly one of my favorite places. And it's on the road to WrestleMania, so it's Stardust, of course, in Phoenix, but it's John Cena, it's Seth Rollins, it's Randy Orton, it's Big Show, it's everybody who's anybody entering that arena on the road to the biggest show, not just of the year, but ever. That's what WrestleMania does every year. It tries to top the last one as the biggest show ever.
You're taking on Goldust again in Phoenix. Are you getting revenge for your loss at Fastlane or is it your chance to shine, no pun intended. I think in Phoenix, heading on the road to WrestleMania, it's almost as though it's a tuneup against Goldust. It's almost a tuneup for WrestleMania. You have to understand that even though Goldust was here long before Starrrrrrrrdust, that Goldust is just a harbinger for Stardust. That's all. Stardust is in everybody, 90 percent of our bodies is literally Stardust. I am inside of you.
Were you disappointed that you won't be facing Goldust at WrestleMania in a big showdown between y'all? Verrrrrrrry good question. And, please, spread this answer as far as you can. Please circulate this sole answer more than any answer I've given you. I am not, in the least bit, disappointed. Stardust wrestled Goldust at Fastlane. And guess what? Goldie got the big win. Whoopity doo! And then Stardust attacked the dirty "Yes!" man [Daniel Bryan] and changed my fortune forever.
So it's a matter of facing Goldust again or a matter of wrestling for one of the biggest prizes in the game, then I take the latter.
Or, literally, the ladder in this case. Literally.
How do you prepare for a ladder match? It can be quite treacherous. I feel like ladder matches in the WWE are one of those, and I don't know the expression entirely, but I think I've heard John Bradshaw Layfield -- WWE comentator, cowboy, billionaire, tycoon -- I've heard him say that you have to drive your body like it's somebody else's car. And I believe that. You can't think about the pain, the nicks, the rips, the breaks, the bruises, even the falls, all you have to think about what's up top, and what's up top is dear to me. It's precious. And I want it more than they want it.
Is it fitting that it's a ladder match and you'll be ascending to the heavens in a sense to get the Intercontinental Title? I absolutely believe that it is fitting and, please, don't be shocked if I fit into the Ivory Enterprise in my own fashion. I mean, I've seen these ladders that the WWE uses in these TLC [and] Money in the Bank-style matches. Stardust is bringing his own his very own ladder.
At previous WrestleManias, ladder matches have been some of the most spectacular and show-stealing matches. Do you think that y'all will steal this year's show, given the talent involved? You already know who's in said ladder match, you have all these superstars [involved], so let's list them all. You have Daniel Bryan, you have Dolph Ziggler, you have R-Truth, you have Luke Harper, you have Dean Ambrose, you have Stardust. You have superstars like that, superstars that want that title almost as much as they want to breathe. Superstars that flat out give a damn. That want to make their moment. They don't want their moment handed to them. The potential for this match is as much is as much potential that's been placed on any match ever. It will be a hell of a thing to witness.
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Um...okay. On your Twitter, you stated something like "prep my money pool McDuck" in anticipation of winning at WrestleMania. Do you really want to do such a thing, like on DuckTales? I would absolutely welcome it, just on a whole other level. There are some physics problems with a money pool, I was told by Stardust followers on Twitter that it is not a flowing liquid, that it would indeed be solid matter and there would be difficulties actually diving into a money. But then again, they've never worn a Mevlar suit. So prep the money pool, prep a brand new Stardust outfit, prep everything you can possibly prep for the first day that Stardust is the Intercontinental Champion.
I know he's in NXT right now, but are you looking forward to taking on Finn Balor someday? He has the face paint thing going for him. I believe he has the face paint and body paint thing mastered. He probably is the best in the game. And I think he is quite far ahead of his NXT brethren. I would welcome the chance to wrestle Finn. I would welcome the change to wrestle him on a Monday night Raw, on a Smackdown, on a pay-per-view, or even at NXT itself. That's something I have frequently heard that people would like to see and it's our job to give them what they want to see.
WWE Live! takes place on Saturday, March 21, at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Bell time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $100.
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