30 Most INSANE Things Wrestlers Have EVER Said On Live TV
22. The Codyverse Coda
The January 19th 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite was a course correction - one designed to address the barrage of complaints following the previous week’s disastrous episode. That show had been plagued by an overwhelming number of interruptions and run-ins, completely undermining AEW’s hard-fought reputation for maintaining a structured, sports-like presentation. Promos fell flat, matches lacked impact, and the teased future matchups felt anything but elite.
The solution one week later was swift and effective. A more streamlined show delivered relatively clean finishes, logical (if still slightly contrived) storyline progression, and reinvigorated feuds. Apart from whatever was happening in the dreaded Codyverse.
Still trapped on his own plane of existence, Cody Rhodes launched into a rambling promo that somehow touched on (deep breath) WWE, NXT, The Elite, Jay Lethal, Ricky Starks, FTR, ReDragon, Brody King and - despite even saying he'd been told not to - CM Punk. Only after all that did he get around to addressing his actual opponent Sammy Guevara, and for all of two minutes that nobody remembered because of every other shot he'd fired. Shifting between shoot and work, babyface and heel, his delivery was as captivating as it was completely absurd, but fans in AEW had grown so tired of not knowing where they were at with the 'American Nightmare' that the only noises came from knowingly incendiary lines.
It was fascinating, chaotic and a little bit disastrous. Within a year, it'd be almost unthinkable - it would be his last in-ring promo in AEW. Just weeks later, Rhodes made an industry-shaking return to WWE, re-emerging at WrestleMania 38 as an instant top babyface with momentum that carried him all the way to the company's top prize two years later.