The CW says of tonight’s “A Matter of Trust”:
Now that Oliver has his new team, they are ready to hit the streets but Oliver doesn't feel they are ready. Headstrong Wild Dog defies the Green Arrow's orders and sets out on his own after a new drug dealer, Garret Runnels, who is terrorizing Star City. Runnels proves more powerful than Wild Dog and it is up to the Green Arrow to go head to head with Runnels to save his teammate.
Wrestling fan and longtime talkbacker "Shermdawg" adds this:
I know most of Ain't it Cool's audience has such cultured and refined taste that professional wrestling isn't on their radar...but for us fans of the squared circle, tonight is a bit of a special occasion. It marks the first appearance of Cody Runnels' Derek Sampson and the culmination of a nearly two year on and off-screen drama that led to a match with Green Arrow himself, Stephen Amell....and him requesting his release from World Wrestling Entertainment earlier this year.
Runnels, son of the late great and industry cornerstone "The Amercian Dream" Dusty Rhodes, and brother of current WWE veteran..."Goldust" (Dustin Runnels), wrestled for the company as "Dashing" Cody Rhodes before being asked to take up a similar character as his brother in the summer of 2014. After using Frank Gorshin and Jim Carry's portrayal's of the Riddler as influence and borrowing a bit of a Mr.Sinister look later on, the over the top persona of Stardust was born drawing from everything he grew up loving as a gamer and comic fan.
Eventually Stardust began a social media war of words with Arrow star Stephen Amell. Their back and forths ultimately led to an on-air feud and a tag match involving the two at the 2015 Summer Slam pay-per-view.
The match was a bit underwhelming in terms of Amell getting his one ups on Runnels, but as Cody would later reveal a second match was planned which would've ended with him shedding his alter ego and once again taking up the "Rhodes" name in honor of his father who had passed away the summer before. Unfortunately the WWE dropped those plans for whatever reason and without the Amell feud to keep him relevant as Stardust, Runnels was left floundering in the lower mid-card, despite occasionally teasing something further possibly happening between him and Amell...
In late May of this year, after months of frustration with his direction...or lack there of, along with WWE creative refusing of his requests of reverting back to Cody Rhodes, Runnels and his wife Brandi (former WWE announcer "Eden Stiles") were granted their release which opened new doors for his career in the independents and the opportunity to finally guest star on Arrow, making him the latest in a string of professional wrestlers that have appeared in DC shows over the last decade, most recently following the footsteps of Eve Torres (Supergirl) and Adam Copeland (The Flash).
Unlike those before him, his role of Derek Sampson may be more than just a one off as he recently hinted in an interview with "IGN"... "The episode is rooted a lot on team building, as Oliver continues to build up his new team. But other things are also getting built." Sounds promising. Hopefully whatever those "other things" are, it will involve the rogues from CW's other DC shows. I mean, it's about time we got a Legion of Doom in some form, right?
8 p.m. Wednesday. The CW.
