In this WrestleTalk News, Cody Rhodes has left AEW, Cody Rhodes has left AEW, Cody Rhodes
has left AEW and more.
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if this story isn’t proof that backstage wrestling news is often more exciting than
the actual wrestling, I don’t know what is.
… well, f***.
Cody Rhodes, one of the founding members of the promotion, one of the company’s most
senior executives behind-the-scenes and holder of its secondary men’s title just last month,
has publicly left AEW and is reportedly on his way back to WWE.
And already, just one day removed, I can exclusively reveal to you the real reason why: his neck
tattoo, it looks so silly.
There have been plenty of reports from plenty of very trustworthy sites over the last 24
hours.
Fightful, the Wrestling Observer, PWTorch, WrestleVotes, PWInsider.
Even mainstream media like TMZ and Ariel Helwani.
And they all claim a lot of different things that have gone down in the backstage Cody
saga over the last six months.
But one reason is shared by practically all of them.
So, the Too Long, Didn’t Read version is this.
Money.
Cody and Brandi Rhodes left AEW because Tony Khan didn’t agree to give them the amount
of money they wanted.
The Too Long, Did Read version, however, is: life is complicated and has many different
facets and causes driving human behaviour.
Also WWE really want him to be at WrestleMania 38.
So also money again.
This is a story with a lot of noise.
It’s too early to separate fact from fiction, work from shoot, so I’ve compiled everyone’s
reports into a rough chronological order, and I’ll cite sources as best I can as I
go.
Cody has technically been a free agent since January 1st, 2022, when his three year contract,
that he signed on AEW’s founding, expired on December 31st.
He has been in negotiations with AEW and Tony Khan for the last six weeks trying to agree
a new deal.
During this time, he continued to wrestle and appear on AEW programming, even holding
the TNT title, dropping it to Sammy Guevarra at last month’s Beach Break in one of his
best ever matches - effectively acting as Cody’s swansong from the company.
Behind-the-scenes, other AEW personnel fully expected Cody to agree a new contract.
Cody’s wife Brandi, who has left with him, was still working on outreach programs, only
just forming a new partnership with the American Heart Association last week.
They had just had their reality show, Rhodes to the Top, renewed for a second season on
AEW’s network TNT.
Cody was still working on plans for his character for upcoming Dynamites, with Brandi semi-starting
a feud with American Top Team in a disastrous segment just a fortnight back.
F4WOnline writes of people backstage being “heartbroken” when they heard the news,
practically everyone was “surprised and didn’t know anything until the day of”
and those that knew Cody’s contract had expired said they never thought it would actually
lead to him leaving.
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger even went so far to say Cody only informed Tony Khan he was leaving
yesterday morning.
Despite rumours from last Summer that claimed Cody had become distant from his fellow EVPs
Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, Dave Meltzer claims “everyone said that the EVPs were
getting along the best they have in a long time.
They were working last week on projects for the future.”
But like many things you thought could never happen and suddenly do, Cody leaving seems
to be down to long running fissures that we chose to ignore, despite them almost being
in plain sight.
Cody’s fall in the fans’ eyes began last April with his Double or Nothing feud against
Anthony Ogogo.
Cody had cut a misjudged promo that essentially boils down to America, f*** yeah, to start
a US/UK nationalistic feud against England’s Ogogo - a creative direction Cody has since
admitted he regrets.
Ogogo then suffered an eye injury and needed to take a lengthy time off for surgery, so
Tony Khan booked Cody to go over.
Despite it not being his decision, and the circumstances were understandable, a portion
of the audience suddenly turned, pushing the narrative that Cody, like his hero Triple
H, buries younger talent.
This was in spite of loads of evidence to the contrary: making stars of Darby Allin,
Sammy Guevarra, MJF and Jade Cargill, and also building in a stipulation that meant
he could never wrestle for the AEW title ever again.
Cody’s storylines and character become more of its own island in AEW from that point on.
I’ve taken to calling it the Cody Zone.
Steve and Larson call it Cody Island.
It’s totally a recognised phenomenon, and is typified by zany booking, random Brandi
appearances, and the uphill battle of presenting Cody as a white meat, blue eyed babyface,
despite everyone thinking Malakai Black is way cooler.
Cody publicly said he’d never turn heel in promos.
Behind-the-scenes, it’s because he didn’t want to jeopardize his AEW charity work that’s
so important to him.
How can you play a bad guy on TV, and then expect children diagnosed with cancer to be
happy to see you?
Totally understandable, but as his performance became more and more unlinked with the audience,
also totally unworkable.
This is where Wade Keller of PWTorch comes in.
He’s heavily implied that nine months ago, before Cody’s character came out of step,
Tony Khan would’ve either signed Cody for the amount he was asking, or at least tried
to reach a “reasonable compromise” on a figure.
But since then, two things have changed: Keller believes Khan grew tired of Cody’s
rigged determination to stay a babyface.
Apparently Tony told Keller at one point “Cody still drives numbers, so I’m ok” - which
Wade took to mean: “yeah, he’s a headache, and every segment is a car wreck, but he’s
still drawing numbers.
So I guess I’m okay with it for now?”, saying Cody “became a bit of a liability.”
And 2) CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole came in, and their huge contracts - with Punk’s
the biggest in the company with Jericho - “changed the dynamic” for Cody.
Before then, Cody was a clear top four guy in the promotion.
But once the big signings were made in the latter half of 2021, “Cody knew and Tony
knew that Cody became expendable.”
Cody no longer had the leverage he needed to remain one of AEW’s top paid guys.
Keller compares this to how WCW worked, where the top guys had a clause in the contracts
that if anyone got paid more than them, their contracts would go up to match it.
Which is one of the many reasons that company collapsed under the weight of its own wage
bill.
But the Hogans and the Nashes, and then later the Lesnars were onto something.
If you’re not a top paid guy, you’re not a top guy.
Keller writes “my understanding is [Cody] wanted to be and to a degree that just wasn’t
seen by Tony as what he was worth to him in the current landscape.”
And those weren’t Cody’s only ambitions…
Keller believes that Cody wanted to be more than just an EVP.
Unlike Omega and the Bucks, who were happy to use their executive power to book the women’s
matches and bring in all their friends, respectively, Wade thinks Cody wanted to be “more involved
with being seen as sort of an equal to Tony, and it became clear over time this was Tony’s
company.”
This ties into a story from Andrew Zarian.
Last October, Forbes released a video profile of Tony - which Tony begins by listing all
the things he does in AEW.
He’s the GM, he’s the booker, he’s the president.
All things, by the way, that are true.
But Zarian says he was told “This really upset certain people, especially Cody.”
TMZ have reported a similar angle, writing “Sources tell us there was a fallout between
Cody and Tony recently … as Khan’s visibility within the company grew.”
Which is very interesting, as according to several reports, Cody leaving AEW was ultimately
Tony’s decision.
PWInsider write Cody and Tony “hit a snag” in contract talks a few weeks back due to
differences in pay.
This led to the end of their negotiations.
F4WOnline add the talks officially fell apart on Monday morning, where lawyers came in to
work out how to remove Cody from his role in the company.
But Cody’s contract, like Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks and Chris Jericho, reportedly
had a one year option following the three year expiry date.
Tony has exercised that for Omega, the Bucks and Jericho, with their three year contracts
being extended an extra year through to early 2023.
So Dave Meltzer points out Cody could leave because Tony made the decision not to keep
him.
So the story then becomes more about Tony not thinking Cody was worth the money he was
asking, rather than Cody actively leaving AEW.
It’s been reported that after this new wave of signings, starting with Malakai Black all
the way through to last week’s debuting Keith Lee - with one more big arrival expected
- AEW will be more conservative with their budget until their TV deal is hopefully increased
in early 2024.
But maybe also Cody’s babyface obsession was also a headache not worth having, in addition
to his wife Brandi who is also intent on wrestling again - a role she has not gotten over in,
and has received understandable accusations of favoritism.
This feeling apparently extends backstage, because while everybody apparently “pretty
universally” likes Cody, Keller claims: “nobody has anything nice to say about Brandi
Rhodes.”.
Whatever has deteriorated between Tony and Cody, it is obviously incredibly significant.
As it doesn’t just mean AEW loses one of its very top stars and founders of the promotion.
It also means he’s likely set to become the first high profile defection from AEW
to WWE.
Cody leaving AEW was immediately followed by numerous reports that he was heading to
WrestleMania baby, wooo.
So many reports, it’s hard not to see it as a coordinated effort by WWE to undermine
AEW.
WrestleVotes tweeted: “Spoke to a source just now that fully anticipates WWE coming
to an agreement with Cody Rhodes.
Unbelievable.”
Andrew Zarian reported there’s no contract signed yet, but WWE have already started “waving
their WWE flag in victory with this” behind the scenes.
“I have never seen a celebration of sorts with someone that hasn’t signed yet.”
Apparently they’re happy about how bad a founder leaving for WWE looks for AEW.
And mainstream MMA reporter Ariel Helwani - he of close relationship with WWE’s Nick
Khan - tweeted “I’m told Rhodes and WWE are in fact talking about him returning to
the organization in the near future.”
Do not mistake this story as a sudden happening.
The machinations of dark forces were at work here.
PWInsider add Cody has been in contact with WWE since late last year.
ESPN write WWE knew about Cody’s announcement possibly even before AEW did.
And Keller is reporting all the plans for Cody’s WWE homecoming are already in place,
where he could report to the Performance Center as early as this weekend, debut on Raw or
SmackDown as early next week with no non-compete clause in place, and be set for a “major
match at WrestleMania”.
Vince McMahon apparently sees Cody’s defection “as a big deal… and he’s going to get
a big push.”
Shine up the spandex, pal.
We’re bringing back Stardust!
But, also, it could all be a work.
What do you think?
Is this for real?
Let me know in the comments.
Mull it over while you watch Every Elimination Chamber entrant ever ranked on partsFUNknown.