10 Things We Learned From American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes

5. AEW & New Japan Make It In

Cody Rhodes Documentary
WWE/Peacock/AEW

This is already one of the biggest aspects of the doc people are talking about.

Some fan-made footage from All In made it onto WWE's show, and Peacock did a nice job of acknowledging Cody’s career post-release between 2016 until his return in 2022. This is perhaps the first time WWE has properly done that, and it’s a good thing too. It would’ve been brutal to pretend he only wrestled on the independents, or something.

Seeing The Young Bucks, Wrestle Kingdom, etc on a WWE-produced documentary is rather surreal somehow, to be fair. Imagine WCW footage had popped up on WWF docs back in the '90s - that's what this is like. It'll be a big selling point for some sitting on the fence about watching.

Honestly, drink it all in (pun intended). Hearing phrases like "forbidden door" (which is also the name of an AEW pay-per-view) uttered on what is effectively WWE programming feels almost taboo. Cody was right to push for this stuff, because it's a big part of his story.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.