Just What IS Cody Rhodes' WWE Story Anyway?!
Cody was so hot that, with all due respect to a super-solid pro, he worked a great programme with Shawn Spears subsequently. He was instrumental in doing the hard part in October 2019. Not to be too reductive about things, but any promoter can put together a great card of action. It’s harder now, since the indies have gone to sh*t, but you’ll see a high-calibre show over WrestleMania weekend with zero context without having to look too far. With that frankly absurd talent roster, anybody could book a great 2024 AEW pay-per-view - on the night.
Cody Vs. Chris Jericho reached awesome extremes of emotion and entertainment value as the programme that launched Dynamite. It wasn’t just two wrestlers talking at one another for 20 minutes and taking it in turns to interfere in their matches. The angles were hot. The brawls were wild, funny. AEW reached the desired “sports-oriented” presentation with a pre-tape showing Cody in intense preparation for the Full Gear 2019 match; Chris Jericho subverted it with an inch-perfect parody. You could laugh at Cody and, when he cut the Ellis Island promo, run through brick walls for him. AEW badly needed this fantastic episodic thrust. The build to Full Gear was one of AEW’s tightest creative periods, Cody - then a part of the booking committee - again stole it.
AEW Dynamite launched on October 2, 2019. WWE debuted SmackDown on Fox 48 hours later. Brock Lesnar beat Kofi Kingston in 10 seconds on that show. Cody will leave the business infinitely better than he found it.
It went badly in AEW for Cody after that. The MJF feud was more exceptional linear television - the grand anticipation of Taz Vs. Sabu, but with a near-perfect traditional babyface versus heel dynamic - but the neck tattoo Cody got inked stole focus from the blow-off match at Revolution 2020. Then the pandemic happened. His work as TNT champion was remarkable, and it says a lot about his incredible ability to play a puro-influenced Ace figure that he was miscast in a role that got Eddie Kingston and Ricky Starks hired. He was simply a better babyface - that much is new window-clear now - and he probably accelerated through too many ideas in his first year.
Still, his legacy in AEW will be felt as long as the promotion exists. Every single week, AEW attempts to give a young talent some sort of rub. Every week, you’ll see a competitive television match between an established top star and an opponent well below their level. It’s Chris Jericho’s entire modus operandi - but has anybody done as good a job with that philosophy as Cody did with Darby Allin?
The Codyverse was overstated, in that the ‘Jerichoverse’ is a “thing” now. With too stacked a roster, a name wrestler often does some totally bizarre side quest or other.
(Jericho is currently a canonical vampire whose character seeks out young blood to suck in between cosplaying as himself in Mexico when working wrestlers from CMLL. It’s weird! Steve Austin didn’t become Stunning again when the Invasion happened.)
Cody was blamed for this when Tony Khan had primarily booked the product since January 1, 2020.
A personal issue that hasn’t been public ultimately drove Cody’s shocking jump back to WWE, but knowing what you know about his sense of drive and ambition, he couldn’t have been ecstatic about being supplanted, in effect, by CM Punk and Bryan Danielson.
Consider the various peaks of AEW and contrast them with WWE’s lows. Stadium Stampede I versus WWE’s cinematic Money In The Bank match. AEW listening to the fans and reorienting the Dark Order versus WWE persevering with Roman Reigns: Big Dog for half a decade. AEW Sting Vs. WWE Sting.
An alternate universe of US pro wrestling without Cody’s influence over it does not bear thinking about.
AEW is a unicorn of an entity. It shouldn’t exist. The biases against the art within the TV and advertising world make the most repugnant bad faith trolls look like “AEWsexuals” in comparison - and the opinions of advertisers actually count. There’s no social media bubble there; TV and advertising are financial oxygen to AEW and WWE.
The idea of a billionaire enjoying Mid-South Wrestling and striking a deal with Warner and getting Nick Gage on TNT just doesn’t happen, but it did.
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