14 Ups & 5 Downs For AEW In 2021

3. Most Things Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes
AEW

Cody Rhodes is a great wrestler enduring a not great year.

Judgment should be reserved on a story that might be going somewhere - AEW is the promotion that has earnestly warranted the "let it play out" comments that are a meme in WWE - but the ongoing adventures of Cody Rhodes and his "multiverse" feel increasingly like a waste of resources, given the players in its orbit.

Cody Rhodes was a phenomenal babyface in 2019 - about as phenomenal as he was a heel in 2018. The strange irony is that he prefers to play with the texture of the alignment despite being total money on either side of the scale. He's either a rousing, passionate hero or wickedly funny villain. In between, he elicits more confusion than emotion. Naturally, he has endured an uneven year, working an all-time great celebrity match at one point and dulling the star power of certain rivals where he elevated all around him in 2020.

He's currently entangled in a sprawling storyline with PAC, Andrade and Malakai Black, and while it's somewhat fascinating, well-worked and loud, it's also confusing and weird. It's also very 50/50, once you look beyond the contrarian atmospheres that act as a backdrop to the excellent wrestling.

The kicker is that everybody involved could be doing something better, more focused, and more purposeful.

A storyline in which a wrestler refuses to turn in line with fan sentiment is ambitious, and it really would be something unprecedented if Cody can pull it off - but is squandering amazing talents in admittedly great movez matches worth it?

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!