WWE's Cody Rhodes "Could Never Root Against" AEW
The American Nightmare discusses the changing narrative of his importance to AEW.
In a candid interview on Peter Rosenberg's Cheap Heat podcast (via the Wrestling Observer), Cody Rhodes discussed AEW, how the narrative has changed about his importance in helping launch the promotion, and how he could never "root against" Tony Khan's company.
As the American Nightmare stated when asked about AEW:
"I'll say, the narrative changed a lot about my contributions to AEW, and that was very disappointing. There were some people, I'm not going to say their names, they know who they were, who kind of tried to put some propaganda out when I left. There's a quote in The Young Bucks' book about how I was last to the signing. And me and Matt and Nick [Jackson] are as close as ever - [I'm] so glad that I've had them in my career and my life - but if we are being honest, AEW does not happen without me. It doesn't. And with that in mind, I could never root against it. It's like having a kid and they go off to college and they get a DUI or they get in trouble... I'll always have that in my heart for them."
On his AEW exit and where he finds himself now, Cody added:
"It certainly was a wound that was more gaping and painful than people realize, because now they look at the situation and they're like, 'Oh man, you're on top of the world, you have everything.' Maybe they don't understand that I really gave everything I could. I did. And yeah, I could never see a day where I was rooting against them."
Rhodes would later discuss the importance of AEW's continued existence for the wider wrestling business and those within it:
"From a completely outside of me perspective, my relationship to AEW or anything, my friends, the kids I signed, the people from my school, all that stuff. But from outside of that, it's very important that they hang in there. Because if that was to go away, I don't think anybody in the locker room has any clue the financial repercussions that that would have on the wrestling business; the trickle-down effect it would then have on independent wrestling. We've created a really comfortable environment in sports entertainment for men and women to feed their families and to do well and to be treated on the level that their global penetration asks for, and I would hate to see that bubble burst. So that's another random fear I have of, you know, when they're down or if they're up or whatever it may be. But yeah, I would never root against them, in any case. That's not always easy because random things said about you at press conferences, and that's a big no-no. You should never say me or my wife's name, Tony [Khan] should have told you that. So, yeah, I'll never root against them. I really won't."
A founding father of the promotion and a former EVP, Cody Rhodes departed AEW in early 2022, with neither party having discussed the specifics of that exit in the time since, bar Cody noting it was due to a "personal issue".
Of course, Rhodes returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 to face Seth Rollins in Cody's first match for the promotion since 2016. A torn pec may had sidelined the second-generation star for a large part of 2022, but the Georgia native has since gone on to headline back-to-back WrestleManias, has won consecutive Royal Rumbles, and is nowadays the Undisputed WWE Champion after finally toppling Roman Reigns at this year's Showcase of the Immortals.
Up next for Cody Rhodes is an Undisputed WWE Title defence against AJ Styles at WWE Backlash this weekend.