10 Precise Moments When AEW Careers Ended
Looking back on WWE man Cody Rhodes' final AEW appearance is fascinating now.
AEW has only been a company for three short years, but Tony Khan has already burned through some big names - Cody Rhodes is obviously the biggest of those, but he's not the only one who has watched his All Elite run come to an end.
You might be surprised by some of the other stars on this list.
Controversy has followed Khan on social media too. Perhaps that's unavoidable in today's world, but it has led to some unsavoury moments which must've had AEW's PR team worrying that things would boil over. One of the most high-profile departures came because of this, and the boss might regret how things were handled near the end.
So, how about those precise moments? They're all here. You'll see screenshots from the final seconds for 10 now former AEW workers. Some, like Cody, went out with a memorable match that paved the way for All Elite's future. Others, meanwhile, were hidden away on lesser-seen programming.
Those unlucky sods were just frittering away time before their contracts with the company expired, but they're still worth documenting to see how it all ended.
10. Joey Janela
'Bad Boy' Joey Janela threatened to break out as a success story in AEW. Early matches against Jon Moxley at Fyter Fest and Kenny Omega showed some faith from higher-ups, but it was maybe never going to last. Months later, Janela began sliding down the card.
That continued until his contract expired on 1 May 2022.
Joey's three-year run came to an end before that date though. His last All Elite appearance fell on the 1 February edition of Dark - there, he lost to Lee Moriarty in a spirited back-and-forth. Spirited, but it was definitely obvious who was supposed to be the star of the piece.
Above, you'll see Janela getting cradled for a pin. The ref's hand is just coming down for the three count, and Janela's then-valet Kayla Rossi realises the end is near from ringside. Rossi probs didn't know just how correct she was at the time, or how final that pinfall would be.