The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WWE’s Cody Rhodes makes young wrestler’s dreams come true
Enthusiastic 9-yearold fan takes the sport seriously.
If there is one thing you can count on when it comes to wrestling fans, it’s their enthusiasm. One such fan’s zeal was rewarded, big time, when he went to a WWE house show to see his favorite wrestler, Cody Rhodes.
Dressed like his hero, 9-year-old Landon Paris was plucked out of the crowd by the wrestler and, dressed in matching jackets, the two took a moment to ham for the crowd. To top off a night Landon would never forget, Rhodes gave him the championship belt.
Landon comes by his love of wrestling honestly; it’s practically his legacy. Both his father and grandfather were successful wrestlers in high school. His dad, Carson, was a former All Bi-City Wrestler and his grandfather was a top wrestling athlete at the prestigious Woodward Academy, so it makes sense he would take wrestling seriously.
There is no better way to honor his family wrestling legacy, and his devotion to his on-screen hero, than to become a wrestler-in-training himself. How else will he be able to fulfill his dream of becoming tag-team partners with Rhodes?
Rhodes is the son of wrestling royalty Dusty “The American Dream” Rhodes, who is one of the most well-respected and well-decorated wrestlers of all time.
Cody, known to his fans as “The American Nightmare” (see what he did there?), is not a villain anymore, as the name suggests. Landon was quick to tell me that he didn’t really like Cody “when he used to be a heel. But he’s a good guy now.”
Landon’s favorite move inside the ring is the Bulldog, which is a perfectly legal move in competitive wrestling. But his favorite move of Rhodes’ is the Cross Rhodes, which is fairly similar only with a little more theatrics.
When asked what made him like Rhodes so much, Landon’s answer was pretty simple: “Cody is just a great wrestler.”
Much like his hero, Landon likes all the attention he’s receiving, saying, “It feels really exciting,” and it’s that kind of star quality that might just see him to the WWE when he’s older.
When we visited Landon at practice with Bison Takedown Wrestling, we sat down for a bit with him and his dad. We can officially now say we knew him before he became a big famous wrestler. After a chat with him, you get a sense of how much he loves wrestling and his commitment to compete in this sport.
Landon trains under Tyler Sang, the wrestling coach for Bison, and Sang makes sure his students works hard. The class we watched has a little over a dozen students, both boys and girls, and the hour was busy: The wrestlers were practicing their moves, doing an insane amount of cardio, and developing discipline that surely will come in handy as a life skill.
Sang says wrestling is like any other extracurricular sport, but admits his program likes to “focus on the winning side.” And win they do. The Bison program recently returned from a tournament in Oklahoma where four of his students competed — and all four placed.