Cody Rhodes' AEW Contract Expires - Now A Free Agent

What does this mean for the American Nightmare's future?

by Andrew Pollard
Cody Rhodes
AEW

With some heavy wrestling news teased earlier for later today, now comes the surprise news that Cody Rhodes is a free agent.

As per Fightful Select, the American Nightmare's AEW deal expired at the end of 2021 and he's yet to re-sign with the company. That means that Rhodes is currently competing without an active contract in place.

Fightful adds how some within AEW have known about this development for the past several weeks. After reaching out directly to Tony Khan's promotion recently, the outlet was informed that AEW will not be publicly discussing the contract status of talent. Similarly, Fightful has reached out to Cody for comment on this, but have yet to receive a response.

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Of course, some may jump on this news and predict that Cody Rhodes will appear at the Royal Rumble later this month, whilst others will speculate about the rumoured discontent between AEW's EVPs. Another trail of thought, is that Cody is weighing up the lay of the land where it pertains to non-wrestling projects.

Given how AEW's key players have been well aware of Rhodes' contract status, and that he's the current TNT Champion, one has to lean towards Cody eventually signing a new AEW deal at some point down the line. Still, this certainly is a fun story that will have people talking.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.