In the high-stakes world of professional wrestling, Cody Rhodes has carved a space for himself in the history. He faced more challenges unlike any other: overcoming fan animosity on his path to WWE Championship glory. Join us as we introspect into the captivating narrative of how Cody Rhodes defied the odds, silenced the doubters, and etched his name in wrestling history.
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#codyrhodes #wwe #aew #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Everyone thinks the decision to return to WWE was difficult.
00:06 It was not.
00:14 Ask why I won't turn heel? It's because you jeered me when I needed it the most.
00:20 In AEW it seemed like Cody was pursuing that number one good guy spot, but how could he do that if he couldn't be the world champion?
00:27 And the AEW fanbase had already chosen some of their favorites at the time like Adam "Hangman" Page to be a much more relatable character, someone they found more likable.
00:37 And Cody felt like someone who, just as an executive, put himself in that position.
00:42 Even if he wasn't putting himself in that position.
00:45 A fundamental understanding you need to know is that the AEW crowd and the WWE crowd are different but a lot of the same.
00:52 The AEW crowd tends to be more lifelong wrestling fans who are going into the deep depths of different things.
00:59 They want more than just the hit songs from their favorite wrestling acts.
01:03 They want something a little bit out of the norm.
01:06 Whereas WWE loves to hear the hits.
01:09 They love to see the character as the defined characters.
01:13 Sure, there's an overlap to an extent, but when looking at a much broader global fanbase, there's a major difference.
01:20 Cody's character is considerably more suited to a WWE presentation now.
01:25 And where there's a larger audience of kids and dudes and moms, in AEW you have a lot more of the dudes who follow the dirt cheats and know what's going on behind the scenes.
01:36 And then AEW feels they have to play some of that out on camera.
01:39 For WWE fans, Cody Rhodes is a family man.
01:43 A blue-collar superhero good guy you'll want to root for.
01:47 One who is ideally an earnest new version of John Cena in a way.
01:53 If you look at some of AEW's biggest good guys, they don't necessarily fit that bill.
01:58 They're R-rated badasses and there's nothing wrong with that.
02:02 Think Hangman Page, Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley, Darby Allin.
02:05 They don't fit into that box of the conventional good guy.
02:09 And to a large extent, they're really more anti-heroes than they are white meat baby-faced good guys.
02:15 And there's nothing wrong with those two different categories.
02:18 One of the harsh realities of Cody's situation with AEW is that he had a little bit too much of a creative freedom.
02:23 He didn't really have a governor on what he was doing.
02:26 We know that sounds a little harsh, but the fact is that not every superstar is going to benefit from having complete creative control.
02:34 Cody had an established spot on a roster on an internationally televised show, but was still limited by his own design.
02:42 Rhodes was still confident in all of this.
02:45 In all of this upheaval, he remained a reliably fantastic performer on the way out.
02:50 He did it a classy way.
02:52 He went to war with Sammy Guevara over the TNT Championship in a ladder match.
02:56 In the build around that fight, he cut a promo that may be one of the best that AEW has ever presented, if not the most underrated.
03:04 With the fans still resenting them, he reminded them and all of his detractors of his role in making All Elite the game changer that it became,
03:13 setting the record straight, at least the way he saw it.
03:17 He reflected on this exit interview promo as it's since been called, and an interview in 2023 with Sam Roberts, saying,
03:24 "I look at it now and I call it the exit interview.
03:27 And I think maybe selfishly, egotistically, maybe I wanted to remind them, 'Hey, I appreciate that the company's changed. I do.
03:35 Please know, though there is no company, had these things hadn't happened.
03:40 Now other stuff had to happen.
03:42 Jericho had to do this stuff.
03:44 The Bucks had to do their stuff.
03:46 Kenny had to do his.
03:47 Mox had to do his.
03:49 He's a big part of it, too.
03:51 I don't give him enough credit, but I just wanted them to know."
03:54 And boy, did he let them know.
03:57 Cody knew he had to leave and return to WWE to fully cement his legacy within the industry.
04:03 And only a few years later, that decision paid off in a way that maybe he would not have imagined at the time.
04:10 The question is this.
04:12 Now that he has finished the story in WWE, building to a new one, what is the next chapter of his story going to bring?
04:20 Will WWE fans get tired of him being the good guy, the Captain America of WWE, and turn on him, too?
04:27 Is that simply just a natural occurrence within the cycle of wrestling content?
04:32 And will he refuse to turn bad this time?
04:35 The circumstances are considerably different from his AEW days, but only time will tell.
04:40 And let's remind you that Cody Rhodes knows how to play the bad guy.
04:44 He can be dashing once again if need be.
04:47 One thing is for sure, the next chapter of Cody Rhodes' career is going to be an extremely interesting one to follow.
04:53 What do you think?
04:54 Let us know in the comments below.
04:56 Thanks for watching.
04:57 [outro music]