What A New Cody Rhodes List Would Look Like For 2022
"2.0" became a rather popular turn of phrase for pro wrestling in 2021, so much so that it couldn't really be applied to the example that best suited it.
The former Ever-Rise took it on as their new moniker following AEW wisely picking them up after being let go from NXT. Let go, because the black-and-gold brand was black-and-gold no more, and the former Chase Parker and Matt Martel were deemed surplus to requirements ahead of the brand's neon relaunch. 2.0 distinguished one NXT from the other, 2point0 distinguished them from it, and the breaks were clean.
Amidst all of this, AEW was entering the same stage of its lifespan and could have done with the borrowed branding.
The arrivals of CM Punk, Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson over the summer months suggested some serious and significant momentum on AEW's part, and the increasingly-disliked Cody Rhodes, Chris Jericho and certain other company originals were beginning to resemble Chapter One of an epic tale rather than the fine wines we'd all imagine they'd age as.
It's strange - in WWE, the ancient-feeling characters embody that "part of the furniture" cliché to such an extent that, like an old desk or a rickety wardrobe, there's a certain sadness from devotees when they're eventually scrapped. AEW, meanwhile, is so authentically competitive-feeling that it skews closer to the (literal) breakneck pace of the Attitude Era. A place where X-Pac's in-ring genius was lost to over-familiarity, the booking routinely bodied the prior era's icons rather than deifying them, and Edge could say "1999 was SO two years ago" to fossilise Billy Gunn in 2001 by orders of magnitude.
This was AEW 2.0, a place where CM Punk could soon duel with MJF on the microphone, where Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson could perform feats most assumed would be left to retire with the men themselves, and where "pillars" prove their foundational worth over years of careful construction.
This is the space a new Cody list - and with it, thank f*ck, a tangible direction once again - could occupy when he signs his new contract.
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