Here's why Cody 'Stardust' Rhodes quit the WWE

The son of late legendary wrestler Dusty Rhodes has revealed that he ended up leaving the WWE because his goal was to find his true self. Cody "Stardust" Rhodes left the wrestling entertainment company in May 2016 and has moved on to independent circuits.

The former WWE star, in an interview with Fox News said that he wanted to explore his talent outside the company as he reached a point where nothing scared him in the industry, as he had grown up in the Rhodes family, surrounded by famous wrestlers.

"My earliest memory is 4-years-old getting in a wrestling ring. I'm a second-generation professional wrestler. My family, the Rhodes family has been wrestling for 50-odd years. I get to carry the flag now, and I'm just a father-son trying to do what he did," the 31-year-old said.

"I had several decorated characters within the WWE that I was really proud of, coats of paint that changed that I could show a different side to the audience because I've been in front of them since I was 20 years old, and none of them were necessarily the right one."

Rhodes explained that he had made a list of wrestlers he wanted to fight and tournaments he wanted to be in when he left the company.

"I think I created the list because I wanted people to know, hey this isn't talk, some of these matches are already signed, and they're gonna happen. It's an insurance policy, it's my promise. That was my way of saying it's gonna happen and it's gonna happen against some of the absolute best that are outside the WWE," he said.

The star wrestler has performed in pay-per-view fights at Impact Wrestling's Bound for Glory, ROH's Final Battle and New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom since leaving the WWE.