After taking the biggest loss of his professional wrestling career at WrestleMania 39, sitting with a rubber chicken in the center of the Inglewood-based ring as Roman Reigns‘ theme rang out through SoFi Arena, Cody Rhodes had a decision to make.
Sure, he was immediately placed into a program with Brock Lesnar, and actually picked up a pair of wins over the “Beast Incarnate” – potentially his final match in WWE – but with his contract coming up, would the “American Nightmare” risk another heartbreak at the hands of “The Game,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque? Or would he pursue greener pastures, potentially back in the promotion he helped to launch, AEW?
Well, Ariel Helwani asked the “American Nightmare” this very question in an appearance on the MMA Hour and let it be known that he remained firmly in camp WWE, as he was very happy with how the promotion treated him during WrestleMania season.
“No. No, it's not in any way a negative towards them, it just, I know I didn't win the title at WrestleMania 39, but I was in the spot I always dreamed of, and I know how lucky I am to be in this spot,” Cody Rhodes told Ariel Helwani via Ringside News. “When I see a poster and there I am front and center amongst other unbelievably talented people. When I see the 2K24 cover. When I see the responsibility. They didn't hand me the exact ball and say, ‘You're the quarterback,' but they certainly gave me a lot of responsibility. I feel it would have been against my being because I was slotted there, you helped put me there, and now I'm making something of it and growing it beyond what you thought it could be. I wanted to keep doing that for them. It just didn't cross my mind. Not in a negative towards any other places. This is what I've enjoyed doing.”
Goodness, how incredible would it have been if Rhodes smashed the throne once more and returned to Tony Khan's company, standing in the ring at the end of a Pay-Per-View as the prodigal son back home? Granted, it's hard to imagine Rhodes would have made that choice, as he's a win away from becoming the new face of WWE, but still, that would have been as disruptive as any signing in professional wrestling history, right up there with Hulk Hogan going to WCW ahead of his run with the NWO. Turning heel by retiring Sting? Now that could have been priceless.
Cody Rhodes thought CM Punk would fit right in with AEW.
After definitively stating that he didn't agree with CM Punk's assertion that AEW isn't a real business focused on making money elsewhere in his appearance on the MMA Hour, Cody Rhodes was asked by Ariel Helwani if he expected there to be issues between The Elite and the “Best in the World” when he was initially brought into the promotion in 2021.
Rhodes, to his credit, didn't foresee the issues, as he thought it would all work out. Still, in the end, he still likes both parties and will remain friends with them moving forward.
“I don't think I foresaw any of those issues. I did kind of predict, it was unrelated to those guys, but I do remember predicting that there were going to be certain guys who had been there, who wanted to wave the banner, ‘Hey, you've not been here,' and then brand new guys, you always need fresh blood, like Punk coming back to WWE is a great call,” Cody Rhodes explained via Fightful. “I think those always would mesh. I just think what happened there is a ton of misunderstanding, a ton of miscommunication. You will see on indies and wrestlers that aren't properly trained. I'm not talking about bullying etiquette, but you do need to have a little old school in you to know the collaborativeness of what this is. I think they were ships in the night. I love Matt, Nick, and Kenny, and I love CM Punk. I don't know how, but I do. I'm happy for everyone involved. I think it was a ships in the night thing. I wasn't there though.”
You know, to Rhodes' credit, most people thought that CM Punk in AEW would work out pretty well, as the man who long raged against the WWE machine was able to finally oversee the super indie fans had long wanted to see. Still, when WWE swapped out Vince McMahon for Triple H as their head of creative, the rumors started to run wild that Punker wasn't happy anymore, and at that point, it felt like only a matter of time before that tower of cards would crash down in an incredible way.
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