WWE Just Changed The Wrestling World Forever
It tells us without doubt that AEW's selling point of creative expression isn't as important to this specific independent contractor as securing his future as a big money player.
It's not as if Khan wouldn't have offered him a significant sum of money; it just wasn't significant enough. Cody will doubtlessly enjoy certain perks in WWE - the Randy Orton schedule, the power to veto certain pitches - but his days of setting himself alight, emerging from a bespoke entrance tunnel, and yes, blading, are over. WWE will push him hard, and like Kevin Owens, they'll trust him to riff on their material, but he is walking back into WWE knowing that, in the end, he's another spoke on a wheel he is not in control of.
There's a hint, too, that AEW's very selling point - collaborative long-term storytelling - might actually end up benefitting WWE in the long-term. This is key.
The modern professional wrestler doesn't necessarily get into it for the money. They're fans. They don't bump for a living because they don't care about it. Many started training deep into WWE's monopoly, before the promotion warehoused any moderately gifted talent wearing trunks and kick pads as ring attire - which is to state that they entered pro wrestling for the love of it, first and foremost.
They're also artists, a mentality that created the paradigm shift of 2019 in the first instance. A generation of wrestlers, either worn down by or weary of WWE's heavily produced approach, depending on whether they'd actually stepped through the door, were suddenly enticed by an alternative that paid them significantly more money than the indies.
CONT'D...(2 of 6)