Where Did Cody Rhodes Go Wrong in AEW?

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IN MY SOUL
HERE'S A LOOK BACK AT CODY RHODES
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[@ooo_Kim_Chi_ooo]

Cody's angle with Ogogo was his downfall. He should have turned heel and took back his never challenge for the belt stipulation and won it. He would have had insane heat but could have been setup for a big time face turn when he and MJF faced off again.

[@Eviltwin531]

Cody being the face in that was strange, but I think it was especially bad against Ogogo of all people. His backstory in particular made Cody trying to come off as the good guy even worse.

[@rescuerex7031]

Yeah the video mentioning he seemed like the wrestling Homelander made me wish he like went full Villain but using the Tropes of old Faces

[@ericpoyntz7460]

Yeah he would have had to take the belt from Kenny at the time so that prob wouldn't have worked. Using the Homelander character we though it was leading to would have been better. I also think it would have been better for him to maybe beat Mox or Archer for the IWGP US title, and really hammer home the Pro-America gimmick

[@ericpoyntz7460]

@@badladyami I don't think it was tho, Maybe ROH was so he could get his Business minded Character off the paper. But I think after the success of All in, he wanted to be The reason why they succeeded and maybe Vp of Operations when he retired. Kind of felt like it really went downhill for him after he was pulled out of The Team Taz vs Sting/Darby feud

[@mattm7798]

That would have been cool. Him basically saying "forget you, you want to boo me, ill give you something to boo...oh by the way, i'm winning the title so shove that up your...."

[@BryWithAWhy]

In hindsight, I think moving to WWE was the best move for a babyface Cody. However, I'll always think it's a missed opportunity for him to not go heel with the 'homelander' gimmick. I think that could've really had some potential...

[@mattm7798]

Unless he becomes a WWE lifer from now on, which is def possible, i think Cody will have a nice run in WWE then head back to AEW for his final big run, hopefully as a heel.

[@KilamajaroKen]

Considering how many fans of The Biys were shocked to be told Homelander was supposed to be the bad guy. I honestly think Cody was one of those people. He probably thought being Homelander was being a babyface.

[@KazeShikamaru]

It is crazy how he is okay with being heel in WWE but not AEW.

[@JamesKlemm87]

That's the great thing about having two big promotions. Some wrestlers can work as a heel in one promotion and a face in another. Cody is a face in WWE, but needs to be a heel in AEW. Same as Hogan had to be a heel in WCW but when he returned to the E even him committing attempted murder on The Rock still got him cheered by the fans.

[@MilkmanC]

I needed that storyline 😂

[@misfit_kev]

I think in the grand scheme of things, Cody’s AEW run will be remembered as a deeply important part of wrestling history. Not only did he help establish a ton of new stars, he helped to establish an entire new company. And with that, he helped to establish a whole new era in professional wrestling. Regardless of how his AEW run was received at the end, Cody Rhodes is going down as one of the most important professional wrestlers of all time.

[@mattpryokra2245]

Absolutely 💯

[@Bassmanhill84]

Well said Fellow wrestling fan. Couldn't have said it better myself! 👍🏼👊🏼

[@markw110]

❤

[@cchisolm92cc]

He came back from that torn pec and accomplished the following: 2x Royal Rumble winner Beat the Beast twice Undisputed Tag Team Champion Main evented Wrestlemania 3x (2x in one weekend) He finally finished the story and became the Undisputed WWE Champion. "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes

[@kyleh636]

Cringe

[@cchisolm92cc]

@@kyleh636 grow tf up!

[@KevinTignor]

@@kyleh636 how is it cringe? It's facts

[@bigbay1159]

@@kyleh636 Butt hurt individual spotted.

[@bigbay1159]

@@KevinTignor Just a moron, nothing to cure that.

[@NoobGamerTopG]

Tony Khan is a miracle worker! His booking so amazing that Cody Rhodes and CM Punk both came back to WWE!

[@kurtisbased183]

booker of the year! lmfao

[@fornhunkle]

Now we'll never get Rhodes vs Shitinaki Matsimiuira in a 17/32 falls match in the Tokyo Dome

[@Nothingburger12]

😂😂😂

[@MasterOfViewership]

and both of them have been screwed since!

[@coltonwilkie241]

Tony is so good at his job that he managed to repair one of the most volatile relationships in wrestling by firing the biggest star his toy box hobby will ever have. And it's all because he genuinely believes the Elite sees him as a friend.

[@berneebern]

I still wake up every morning and thank God that Cody Rhodes was able to selflessly solve racism

[@nexusgiga]

Cody rhodes ended racism and we should thank him.

[@berneebern]

Damn right! He's a true American hero!

[@9THLVL]

It was the neck tattoo that gave him those super natural plumbing powers.

[@MrNegativecreep07]

More specifically, ended racism by beating up a black man.

[@mrdude88]

@@berneebern Cody isn’t the American hero, he’s the American Nightmare.

[@wstine79]

You could see his influence on the company during the match following his exit. It was Sammy Guevara vs Darby Allin for the TNT championship. Three things that he helped get established.

[@theelectricprince8231]

He built that place up and now it is being destroyed.

[@themilkman5004]

I say it’s a mix of trolling from fans, not wanting to turn Heel, and Cody thinking he was the perpetual baby face of AEW when the Elite was building up Hangman as that baby face. Brandy did not help either.

[@wuztron]

The most reasonable take in these comments.

[@cliffordjackson3]

THIS IS THE ANSWER.

[@alwaysxnever]

This is fair OP. Some people are going a bit ham but this is the most nuanced and succinct take. Not going to get any better than this. I'm done scrolling. 😂

[@ds4life886]

And i put another thing in the mix. AEW doesn't know how to book a classic main event Babyface. Cody, Page as a champion... They're really good with more "violent" baby like Mox and Punk, but the classic face is something they don't know how to treat

[@bainbridgeomega]

@@ds4life886 idiots in here.... i guess you forget that cody booked himself to NEVER get a shot at the aew title, which was stupid. Cody going away to persue a career in hollywood every single chance he get instead of focusing on wrestling was stupid. Him saying that hes the guy who solved racism.was stupid. His annoying wife getting constant airtime was stupid. Always finding ways to self mutilate himself was stupid.

[@colemc18]

I'm surprised you didn't say "Codyverse" during this entire video. People would mock how isolated the events of his feuds were from the rest of the show. It also didn't help that it felt like Brandi was getting a constant push ala 2015 Stephanie McMahon in an already weak women's scene when she didn't excel on the mic or in the ring. Also his Rhodes to the top has a good clip about the weigh in scene with him talking about how bad it was and Tony Khan flipping his shit behind the scenes.

[@josephlorenz6703]

The "Codyverse" did seem real. All the feuds he had in AEW seemed to be cut short and involved, with a couple of notable exceptions, talent that was not quite ready. Almost like he was constantly in mid card feuds that were given excessive TV time. Brian kept using the word gatekeeper in the video, and he was when you consider he was always the biggest name in the feud. Oh and Brandi didn't help at all. He got alot of referred heat from her.

[@UFCWWE69]

Lol I hate Brandi and there’s a reason why she didn’t show up with Cody in wwe but she was gold on the mic. That open mic night line was hilarious 😂

[@brianconnelly1238]

There wouldn't be an AEW without Cody Rhodes.... Some might not like it, but those are the facts

[@Reign_Fire2022]

21:23 is where I stand with Cody 🥂

[@alternative7586]

Without Cody there wouldn't be AEW, and without AEW, there wouldn't be Cody as champion.

[@MazeDaGr8]

I think one of the biggest problems with Cody's time at AEW was that stupid "he can't challenge for the title" stipulation he put on himself. I mean I know why he did it to avoid those morons saying "he booked himself to be world champion" but still, in the process we missed out on a lot of good stuff & matches because of it

[@ScarletWidow]

It definitely didn't that he put an immediate ceiling on which stories he could participate in within the company's first few months

[@judeskii]

I thought it would be a vehicle to cement him as a heel when he turned

[@patrickswasey5301]

And then nobody said a peep when Kenny won the World Title which makes Cody's caution seem even sillier in hind sight.

[@TheLaurelCrown]

@@patrickswasey5301 or the Young Bucks winning the Tag Team Titles the first time against FTR

[@shadedragon]

He gave us MJF

[@michaelsinger4638]

The Ogogo feud really killed him. It was spectacularly misjudged. And Cody’s not wanting to turn heel or challenge for the world title really handicapped what they could do with him.

[@chrismcdonald6079]

Agreed, he should’ve turned and challenged for the title anyways

[@SMOKETHECONQUEROR]

It was less Ogogo and more the not wanting to turn heel. All would've been good had he gone with the flow instead of swimming upstream. No one wanted John Cena 2.0. It was completely tone deaf.

[@dankelly5150]

@@SMOKETHECONQUEROR The "John Cena Playbook" should be burned and the ashes thrown into a volcano ! 😡

[@Frag_Limit]

Who is ogogo?

[@zoelotero]

@@Frag_Limit Anthony Ogogo. A former boxing prospect who switched to wrestling after an eye injury, debuting with AEW a year ago. He had a feud with Cody that was turned into a GB vs US angle, where Cody was the babyface but was booed as it was the typical America vs the evil foreigner despite the feud certainly not really needing it. Combine that with Cody winning when many thought he should've put Ogogo over and you have the "official" start to the entire Coy booing thing (combined with a promo that's now gone on to being satirized as "Cody Rhodes ends racism" within the community, as well as a weight in segment that was a disaster).

[@johncanderson162]

Good video, but I'm surprised how little Brandi is mentioned in this video. I feel like a big part of the fans' later dislike of Cody had a lot to do with how his wife was portrayed in the product. From the whole Nightmare Collective storyline to the way she was constantly interfering in his matches, there was a whole disconnect where it seemed like All-American Cody had a blind spot when it came to his wife's antics. She just wasn't a very good or consistent character, and his association to her onscreen definitely detracted from what he brought to the table.

[@chrisbuttonshaw2088]

yeah Cody wanting to be ULTIMATE babyface boss while Brandy wanted to play a HEEL didn't jive

[@notgonnapay]

Is this open-mic night, bitch!?

[@mattm7798]

Yeah they should have turned hard into her being a heel since fans clearly wanted to not like her.

[@jackburton2680]

Don't forget that god awful, self-absorbed reality show. So idiotic.

[@tks231]

In out of character interviews, Brandi always comes across as aloof and hyper-defensive of her and Cody's angles, which never helped.

[@kaineshigaraki5253]

Cody’s run at AEW taught me why wrestlers at the top are so selective for when they want to put somebody’s over. Once you put someone over your stock goes down. Will they pay you back? Will they always show gratitude? No. I completely understand why Trips and Cena carried that golden shovel around. [>

[@david-468]

What??? No if you’re well established you can lose many times and not worry about being buried at all

[@johnenigma8506]

Cody's contract not getting renewed by AEW turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. Wrestling is crazy sometimes.

[@dr.snakes]

I think Cody Rhodes in AEW can be summed up thusly: he didn't use the face entrance tunnel. He didn't use the heel entrance tunnel. He entered through the middle.

[@coversbydavidalejandro6986]

Holy shit really? I’ve never noticed

[@green_eye_shy_guy]

Tweener?

[@oldandbitter]

Cody's "silver spoon" promo heading into the match with Jericho still ranks as one of the best of the modern era. You can also argue that no other good guy in wrestling was hotter at that time, including the build to his clash with MJF. Cody Rhodes - social activist. That's where the downturn really started.

[@topcatmatt]

Muh politics made me hate the thing I loved

[@Bupernox]

As someone who only checks in with AEW here and there for a Danielson match or Kingston promo, it's interesting to see such a significant time in a mans career broken down into a video like this. From the outside looking in, Cody going back to WWE seemed like the most baffling decision and had me thinking it was a work or something, but seeing Brian cover the steps and missteps in Cody's journey really helped contextualize things regarding AEW, Cody himself and the wrestling landscape at the time.

[@reececlive1705]

One thing I will always admire Cody for is his story telling, you can’t not get interested in his matches when he has the freedom to talk. Gets the crowd in the palm of his hands pure and raw emotion

[@Guy4318]

Cody benefits from the stricter corporate structure of WWE. In AEW he was given enough slack to trip himself up time and again alongside the strength of his outstanding highs. It was just too much with him and the bad ended up casting a shroud over the good. In WWE he can be this beacon of sincerity compared to what was going on around him. He’s the prodigal child who didn’t have the space to become “himself”, went out and achieved what he wanted to achieve, and returned. Whether this will still work when he returns remains to be seen, but I’ve enjoyed WWE Cody much more on average than the last year and a half or so of AEW Cody.

[@MetalMadness_00]

Triple H whispering in his ear telling him what to do and what not to do will help him long term

[@mattdavis5603]

@@MetalMadness_00 Cody is way more entertaining the HHH, not sure what he can take away from a guy that boring.

[@robertdesantis729]

Wow what a speech. Problem is TK lets the immates run the asylum and even Jericho is getting fed up

[@redred1952]

​@@robertdesantis729NDA Jericho ? 😂

[@keankolodziejski1605]

you mean if he returns, not when, dude is having a blast at WWE@@redred1952

[@thischarmingmothman7962]

Cody's AEW character relied on the idea everyone would love him, and when it all fell apart he was too stubborn to change gears, and the more he got rejected, the more out of step his character became. If Cody had embraced that, changed his direction, and leaned into the ways people turned on him, he'd have found acclaim again. His pride wouldn't let him.

[@ourladyofguadalupebotanica6732]

I always liked Cody. But sometimes the crowd gets bored of needless preening. A good example is Rhonda Roussey in WWE. She needs a big heel turn quick to keep the crowd properly engaged. Same thing is at the end stretch of Cody's AEW run - he badly needed a heel turn to keep himself relevant.

[@tylorkenniston1192]

Cody’s “American Nightmare” character is a heel by nature. The suits, the long winded promos with big words, it’s all the stuff he did as a heel ROH champion, and the idea of him being a baby face is only because of his association with the birth of the company. Should he have decided to stay in the company, a heel turn would have been the only way forward.

[@TheJulior1983]

If he turned he would have become a huge baby face within the year. We love heels

[@Billy-ot8mk]

Not challenging for the AEW Championship was the beginning of where it went wrong. However, the feud with Anthony Ogogo just further sank Cody's goodwill in AEW.

[@Jnwboss]

I can definitely agree on the Agogo stuff. Personally it started with the 1st TNT Championship for me. Then his constant almost crying in every promo mixed with some of them feeling long winded got to me. I wonder why do you think him not challenging the AEW World Champion again was where it went wrong? I think it alleviated fears people had of AEW being an Elite Vanity company but what’s your take?

[@Billy-ot8mk]

@@Jnwboss I've always found the whole can't challenge for the championship stipulation to be dumb. Also at that point Cody was one of the few established babyfaces that could've taken the title from Jericho without needing to be elevated.

[@Jnwboss]

@@Billy-ot8mk I can understand that it makes sense. It was either him or Moxley at that time well whenever Moxley was done with Omega anyways

[@Vesperitis]

I think it's also important to include Brandi in the discussion of Cody's gradual loss in credibility. Right in the early days of AEW, Brandi heading The Nightmare Collective was the company's first dud. It was seen as a nepotism gig for the non-wrestler Brandi, and made no sense in storyline (Cody's a face but Brandi's a heel?) She was also slated to wrestle a number of times (which nobody ever asked for), but she never got around to it because of circumstances and later her pregnancy. But that all changed when she started training for a match against presumably Paige Van Zant of ATT. Brandi had a few practice matches on Dark, but her return on that episode of Dynamite was at the worst possible moment, right when Cody-hate was already at a boiling point, and she came in as a heel(Again? and Cody is still face? Again?!) against an also heel ATT. This, coupled with the earlier debacle with the Nightmare Collective, instantly turned the fans against her. That chant of "Shut the f**k up" was specifically targeted at Brandi, and it fed into the growing X-Pac Heat the couple had with the overall AEW audience.

[@fattiger6957]

I think Brandi was supposed to be the face in the ATT feud. Dan Lambert was going full-on heel mode with her (comparing her to strippers, etc) and the fans still chose him over her. IMO, Brandi and Cody could have been the heel power couple of AEW. Sort of like HHH and Steph in the late attitude era. But for some bizarre reason, both desperately wanted to be face.

[@Vesperitis]

@@fattiger6957 I think Cody once said he wanted to remain face because he was heading AEW's charity wing and it wouldn't be right for a heel to be doing charity work a.k.a. the John Cena Make a Wish-type stuff. I don't know if he mentioned this translated the same for Brandi.

[@MegaShingo97]

Wrong she was both Face and Heel when facing ATT

[@bobbywrtm]

Yep, Brandi's influence is under the radar on so many fans.... It is also shown when Cody get good reaction in WWE and it seems like he fit right in on the lower main event scene with Rollins... I think WWE is smart enough to not signing Brandi too.. once Brandi is also involved with Cody's storyline in WWE, I bet Triple H gonna cut them ASAP

[@CornBreadtm1]

Brandi has been a heel her whole time in AEW. It's her natural state. Nothing wrong with it. There isn't anything wrong with Heel and face pairings. Sting and Luger were always friends on screen even when Sting was always heel and Luger would be a heel. The problem is when you take that heel and try to get the face over with the crowd using them.

[@coltonwilkie241]

It's really telling that as soon as Cody left AEW, the backstage problems starting becoming apparent. Cody leaving caused the circus to get so out of control that CM Punk and WWE were able to have a relationship again.

[@crooker23]

Had the perfect mix for absurd heat, people hated him in character and out of character, people couldn't tell when he was working, he was pompous and grandiose in a company that was trying to be the opposite of that, he represented WWE in a company that wants to be opposite WWE. Just a powderkeg that he refused to light up, and it's incredible that he basically bottled that and brought it wholesale to WWE and it made him the biggest Babyface in the world

[@Guava11534]

Yep at the end of the day can’t say he didn’t do the right thing. Cody remained a baby face in AEW and carried that to the WWE where he became arguably the biggest baby face star in the company.

[@LukeLeonettiYouTube]

With Cody booking himself into a corner, Kenny wanting to lose all of his matches in the first year of Dynamite, and the Young Bucks wanting to lose in the first round of the tag team titles tournament, I really think that all the jokes about how The Elite would just book themselves as champion really got to them

[@mazsax999]

In the case of The Bucks & Omega, they were concerned about their long term story arcs. Kenny needed to lose, which drove him to hang onto Hangman even with all his problems. Their program w/ The Bucks showed us that the Bucks weren't operating on their previous IWPG/ROH level. It also showed us that Hangman was a champion as a functional alcoholic; what could he do sober? While a collective as internet savvy as The Elite surely felt the oncoming "they book themselves to go over" wave of hate, I feel the year plus direction they took in making literally ALL of the members hit rock bottom in one way or another was all about character building. And hell, they all ended up champions a few times over. 2 World title reigns & 3 Tag Title reigns among 4 dudes is a hell of a percentage. The Bucks & Kenny (the original Elite) had to go ol school & bring back that IWGP vibe, stooping so low as too align with that carny POS Don Callis. Hangman had to have NO friends, them be embraced by the (Kayfabe) biggest losers on the roster in the Dark Order. In the end Kenny & The Bucks had to pay for their sins w/ title loses ON THE SAME PPV! And Hangman rode off into the sunset World Champion and (semi)sober, but without the guys he'd spent the last 5 years or so with by his side. I'm telling you, when the Elite (including Hangman) reform....its gonna be TOO SWEET.

[@emiliodominguez9045]

Damm bruh thanks for the info !

[@slashim]

they weren't jokes, they were being serious bc that's exactly what happened in wcw with Hogan and the outsiders.

[@slashim]

@KZbin Viewer you looking so goofy selecting portions of triple H as if he's not notorious for the reign of terror.

[@mazsax999]

@KZbin Viewer Still one of my fav logos in wrestling. That omega sign w/ the antlers coming off the sides...*chef's kiss*

[@GeraldWithers]

I went to a handful of shows around the Carolina area in the weeks/months leading up to his departure from AEW. He took the mic after each event (each show ended with a tribute to the Crocketts, since we were in Carolina and one of them was in the audience every time) and would always make some snarky comment like "Okay, FANS, I guess you can stop booing me now since the cameras are off, huh?!" He did it a few times and it just seemed...weird. He seemed really bothered by the fan reactions not being what he wanted. Glad he's doing well in WWE and hope he finds what he's looking for, though.

[@Finfection]

I remember watching cell phone footage of one of those shows and even when Tony Kahn came out and tried to get the crowd to applaud Cody, they instead doubled down and boo'd even louder. Shit was brutal.

[@darrylskylar8757]

True wrestling fans can appreciate him honoring the Crockett family.

[@darnellmajor8895]

@@Finfection AEW in general is just a hot mess like they put these potentially great storytellers on their roster only to knock them down after they've built them up. Cody should've saw that train wreck a mile away before he joined AEW.

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

The irony of course being he deserves booing much much more now than he ever did in AEW.

[@darnellmajor8895]

@@donkeysaurusrex7881 what is about Cody Rhodes that people don't like? I've always addressed him far as making good choices but not as a person.

[@yankees512417]

I was hoping to see cody go full heel and reign of terror, using his pull in aew to win the title and go full triple h in 2003. Then you could have punk feud with him because he became the one thing he swore to destroy.

[@cameronlapage7386]

Sadly Omega beat him to the punch (the HHH-style reign of terror I mean).

[@sataniksomethingblahblah6350]

Would’ve made too many smarks stop watching

[@patrickswasey5301]

@@cameronlapage7386 Omega had the World Title and the handlebar mustache and people still said Cody was the HHH of AEW.

[@AnthonySkatz]

There's still a deep-seeded, 5% part of me that has conspiracy-theoried that the reason he had the "never can challenge for the title again" stip is because he knew that if he went back to WWE, he could win that world title and it'd be a bigger deal since he was never a "major" world champion on a global company. Anyway: If you asked me, "which wrestler is most emblematic of what AEW stands for?", I'd likely say Cody. He was the guy who could show WWE that their scraps could actually be true treasures on a national, televised scale. He was the one who really "bet on himself" by getting out of WWE. And maybe most importantly, I think he added significant variety to AEW as a wrestling show. I think the big secret to Cody was that, at his best and with everything clicking, he showed WWE that the issue isn't "sports entertainment;" The issue was that WWE WAS NOW BAD AT "sports entertainment." He could take all the things WWE was known for and show that they could be done very well. That's where I think those early matches at the first shows like versus Nick Aldis and then against his brother were key: he could be the guy that, if you were rooted in "old-school wrestling" or still had some issues with different styles, he could be the "familiar" guy that you could click with. He could be the guy who could do what you grew up with, but better than what the company who you probably actually grew up with was now doing. I still miss him in AEW quite a bit. I even really enjoyed those last few months where, while he wasn't turning, he CLEARLY had a blast fucking with fans about it by doing stuff like forgetting which tunnel to go backstage with, or some ways he'd lean into it in his promos. I think AEW having ONE AND ONLY ONE "Cena/Roman heat" person was fascinating to watch and gave the show a unique energy that I, at least, was always glued to because you KNEW he was going to be easily the most polarizing person on the show.

[@arlogatsby7508]

*stares at the Ten Pounds of Gold*

[@alazkaalazka6087]

Highly agree. I loved that Cody never turned heel in AEW. The crowds reaction to his entrance at this time was some of the best stuff in AEW.

[@maxpowergaming462]

Perfectly said my brother

[@emopeterparker226]

Story finished.

[@MrLove717]

Cody sucks 🤡

[@rvaldrich]

I generally liked Cody's work in AEW, especially his time with the TNT Championship. I would have preferred some consistency with the Elite and checking back in with them periodically or something. I liked his perennial babyface character and had little interest in seeing him turn heel. The mentioned problematic angles at the end not withstanding, he was a cornerstone of Dynamite for me and I was sad to see him go.

[@DiabolikSilhouette]

I'm actually a pretty big fan of Ted DiBiase Jr.'s in-ring work & his acting in The Marine 2 (2009). Now his personal life & his work outside the WWE is an entirely different story, but I always thought he was an underrated talent that deserved a much better push, more thoughtful storylines, & the WWE actually needed to follow through w/ their plans. The WWE constantly started what originally seemed like promising storylines w/ his character only to let them fall by the wayside & be completely forgotten. I think he did possess the charisma & the drive, but wasn't put in the position to showcase it & to truly excel.

[@DiabolikSilhouette]

@KZbin Viewer Ok, I'm not saying that Ted DiBiase Jr. was the most charismatic wrestler since Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Steve Austin, or Kurt Angle, but I am definitely saying that he had that same "It Factor" that a successful wrestler of their caliber requires to advance to the upper echelons of the business. Now, did WWE utilize it correctly and capitalize on his talents... No, they didn't. They gave him a decent character and the beginnings of a push, but completely let it fizzle out before it had time to develop and could catch on with fans at the time. In my opinion, TDJ is one of the biggest "What If's" of the WWE during that time period.

[@lordevyl8317]

@KZbin Viewer I agree. The only thing Ted had on his side was he had an awesome finisher, but other than that he was just meh

[@paxlux5288]

@@lordevyl8317 Yeah I can't really remember much about him besides his time in Legacy and his later theme song. I think it would be pretty cool to see him have a one-night return in the Royal Rumble though. Maybe reunite with Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes in the ring (if they're even healthy by then).

[@KelticTim]

1 year later and it’s pretty obvious Cody didn’t go wrong, AEW went wrong

[@supermario2100]

In hindsight, it's very easy to see that Cody should've turned heel at some point during his denial phase. At the time, however, it was also very easy to see that Cody should've turned heel. The Homelander-y jacket was inspired if he planned on turning heel, but it does make me wonder if he actually understood Homelander and The Boys in the first couple seasons.

[@Unotuchable]

If Cody had just pulled the trigger on a heel turn then the fans wouldn't have been as hostile. It's exceptionally bizarre to have a guy come off as a delusional face and actually expect to be treated like a face. The other problem is the Codyverse, Cody still got to book his own segments and his stuff didn't fit in with the rest of the show. It was just segments that felt like they had nothing to do with anything else and you honestly dreaded someone that you liked getting sucked into the Codyverse.

[@kidz919]

I think eventually fans will turn on him in WWE for similar reasons

[@phabiorules]

@@kidz919 I have to disagree for two reasons. 1. Cody is no longer booking himself, HHH is. 2. He can compete for the heavyweight title, so he can always seem involved with the rest of the roster.

[@tyrelbass]

@@kidz919 nah wwe Stan’s wont turn on him , they have low standards, adores everyone Vince straps the rocket too. They already tweeting alleging Logan Paul is better than half of the aew roster lol

[@victoriakollie9574]

@@tyrelbass Vince doesn’t own the company anymore but you don’t watch so you wouldn’t know

[@tyrelbass]

@@victoriakollie9574 no shit he doesn’t work for them anymore, but they guys he strapped the rocket too still work there you bozo

[@Tormund_Giantsbrain]

Cody realized he's not gonna be in TK's main event plans anymore by the time summer of 2020 came around. So instead of at least remaining in the mix and feuding with wrestlers who were more talented/had more upsides than him, he decided to completely remove himself from the main storylines and spend time in his own little island. Which at first wasn't bad with him elevating younger talent with the TNT title run. But you can only do that for so long. Once the Brodie feud ended with Brodie sadly passing away, Cody was left without a direction and sank back deeper into his "codyverse", wasting a whole year in meaningless, irrelvant feuds with his Nightmare Family crew, the Aaron Solos and Anthony Ogogo (that promo was nail in the coffin), while the other "founding fathers" of AEW were winning titles and main eventing. The funny thing is Cody would've been a top guy. If he had only swallowd his pride and turned heel instead of trying to do that Homelander thing one week and going back to whitemeat babyface the week after and his fans saying he's on some meta 5d chess. The best time for Cody to turn heel was late 2020 after Brodie destroyed him. He could've gone back on his world title promise and became the biggest heel in the company. Instead he decided to feud with QT Marshall.

[@KingsizeKini]

Cody really fucked himself with the "can't challenge for the title anymore" stipulation. Apparently everyone tried to talk him out of it. There's no doubt in my mind he would've been AEW champion if it wasn't for that dumbass stipulation. It's hard to get invested in someone when you know there's a limit to how far they can go without some booking shenanigans. He basically put a ceiling over his own head and then wondered why he was hitting his head against it.

[@Tormund_Giantsbrain]

@@KingsizeKini Yes, that's the first straw most people would point to I believe. But my thing is, *he could've easily walked out of that stipulation just by turning heel. He chose not to.* He was the most over babyface in AEW in 2019. By 2021 he wasn't even in the top 10. He refused to see the writing on the wall.

[@fattiger6957]

Cody had all the ingredients to be AEW's top heel. Those thousand dollar suits, a beautiful woman on his arm, a corporate position. Hell, he called himself "The Prince of Pro Wrestling". But for some reason that only made sense to Cody, he stayed a face. Absolutely baffling lack of sense.

[@Tormund_Giantsbrain]

@@fattiger6957 Don't you see. He's playing 5d chess. You're being worked, brother. He's taking you in for the ride of your life. Lol no but seriously. I can't think of another wrestler for whom the table was laid out more perfectly for a "delusional psychotic heel" run. Like Cody is the one wrestler who could've cut a "you people made me do it" promo and it would've actually been 100% true. What a missed opportunity.

[@Chronologo]

Also the incessant quoting of his father on his latest promos, like geez dude we already know your father was Dusty Rhodes. A total shame because I really think Cody grew up a lot as a performer after leaving WWE, but as you guys have said his pride took the best of him. It's gonna be interesting to see how he manages now with Hunter on charge

[@geckosethpe]

I think Cody's AEW run and involvement is one of the most important arcs in a career. With his TNT title run, he helped get Ricky Starks and Eddie Kingston; two major players, signed. Cody beating Wardlow with that insane moonsault off the top of the cage was one of the craziest things I've ever seen and his promo afterwords...like most of his post-match promos, was just pure emotional investment. I say him never challenging for the title really handcuffed any storylines involving the main event. Him going against Malakai Black was bad timing; Black is just too cool and I just didn't like the angles and presentation of it all. Maybe the neck tattoo helped make him more of a joke too? I'm sure noone has heard this before: he has a neck tattoo on his chest and a chest tattoo on his neck. *badum pishh Jokes aside; that thing is in your face and its very hard to ignore. That being said; I just had a hard time believing in him being the underdog over and over in each of his matches. And maybe thats where it went wrong with him; he needed to be the underdog and overcome the huge monster that had his number. He sorta did that with Brodie Lee, but we never got to see what would have happened had he not tragically passed. Cody beating Brodie so quickly after seemed like a bad move as well. I'm very happy he's getting exactly the kind of reactions he was getting when he first ran with AEW. The people f'n love him and he has everyone hanging on his every word and is delivering matches that emotionally invest people while being a genuine babyface. I hope things continue to work out for him with Vince gone and HHH in charge of things. If he didn't get that injury; I'm sure they would have had something with him and Roman cooked up by now.

[@Arran05]

If Stardust was done in a Broken Matt Hardy kind of way where they acknowledge that it's silly and that Cody was losing his mind then it definitely could've worked.

[@DirtyCherdy]

Thank you for making the logistical video about his run in AEW. But also going forward.

[@ericpoyntz7460]

I think a huge point that wasn't mentioned is that they pull him out of the Team Taz vs Darby/Sting angle which seemed like he was at the forefront beforehand and then was completely taken out of it and basically told "You can do whatever you want." which is why we got Shaq and the Factory feud that was at least a year too early

[@ebuzzmiller34]

I think it's telling that when Omega, Young Bucks went full in on being the AEW eltists Cody wasn't included. If he'd turned heel and positioned himself as Bischoff style GM/wrestler he'd have been more well received. It may be Rhodes DNA that can't ever go full heel and want to be jeered.

[@chaosbringer82]

I'm kind of a hipster on Cody because I feel like I cooled on him before everyone else. It all started with his TNT title match with Jungle Boy, where I noticed he was wrestling a very aggressive and heelish style despite raising JB's hand after the match. This to me signified the beginnings of what could have been an epic story-arc. Cody's obsession with the title gradually consuming him as he became more and more desperate to hold onto the richest prize available to him. Even after he lost and regained the title from Brodie Lee it felt like he was playing into that story by leaning into what a controversial decision that was and the perception that the title was nothing more than Cody's personal play-thing. Retaining against Orange Cassidy via shenanigans two weeks in a row seemed like it was designed to get heat on him and prepare fans for the inevitable turn, which would come after losing the title to Darby. The story had basically written itself and it would've lead to a really interesting twist to his character, someone who had put in so much work and sacrificed so much that he felt the fans had betrayed him by cheering for Darby over him, he'd be the classic heel with understandable motivations and it all would've felt totally organic to what came before. And then: nothing. He lost to Darby and then just moved on like it was no big deal. So much potential wasted. That was the point I realised Cody valued his role as an uncomplicated good guy rather than what would make sense and be entertaining for the audience. I realised that all the flirtations with being a heel were just things he was doing because he thought it was fun or stuff he felt that he could easily brush aside once it had served it's purpose because it didn't matter how he actually acted, he was Cody and he assumed the fans would always cheer for him based on that fact alone. And I feel like what came after only supported that view.

[@randomnerdery6511]

I can't help but believe that getting to exec produce the A&E Biography episode about his dad and the ability to control Dusty's legacy were HUGE factors in Cody going back to WWE. Its still weird that he went back, but more power to him. He bet on himself and he cashed in big.

[@MetalMadness_00]

Now he’s being set to be the biggest star in the world

[@clintstewart5545]

@@MetalMadness_00 you mean in the world of wrestling

[@MetalMadness_00]

@@clintstewart5545 yes

[@Poisonjam7]

Fantastic video. I only follow wrestling very casually (I don’t even watch it) and I remember being shocked to hear he was leaving AEW. I couldn’t fathom why, so it’s nice to know the full story thanks to this vid. Thank you!

[@Pocalem]

Loved Cody's work with the WCPW Internet title to take it everywhere and help push the promotion.

[@benespinosa6725]

My all-time favorite Cody moments in AEW is his dog collar match with Brodie Lee the mixed tag team match with Red velvet vs Shaq and Jade Cargill and Jade Cargill's Debut interrupting Cody Rhodes and That Brandi Rhodes Promo was absolutely hilarious that's was amazing 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@benespinosa6725]

@@Sky_Blaze good Point

[@benespinosa6725]

@Rob F 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@730F-Sport]

"Open mic night is over, bitch"

[@Baraka_Obama_]

@Rob F yes..the Pile driver though the table caused Brodie's lungs to collapse

[@swovy5]

Personally, I think the tattoo was the turning point. It was very much a "lol what are you doing??" moment.

[@aztecwrrior1997]

Who else is here after Brians video today about Cody's first run in WWE now in chronological order?

[@ainnocent]

Funny you say that, I always saw this but I never bothered to watch it until that video came out. Told myself, meh might as well now

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Same

[@aspetty]

I've always been a fan of Cody's. I'm happy to see him in WWE, and who knows with HHH in charge I wouldn't be surprised to see him in AEW again in the manner that a forbidden door explodes.

[@F1rsttimer]

The moment I started turning against Cody was the promo he gave after losing to MJF. He basically said "Yeah, I lost but we're all still going to the top". He sounded like a politician trying to put a positive spin on his loss. He didn't embrace the hate and it drove the fans crazy.

[@moreblack]

All he wanted was to grow his name and brand, and get called back by Vince. Everything worked out perfectly for him. Well done.

[@cevcena6692]

He's like the Ric Flair of this generation. Ric grew both brands, but the brand Ric cared the most about was his own name brand

[@thewindozer]

Are you honestly comparing Ric Flair to Cody Rhodes to Cody couldn't even lace rics boots man .......good lord

[@conversationtosaurusrex]

@@thewindozer True, I don't think Cody is going to wait until hes past his prime by 20 years to finally retire.

[@brendanb2982]

@@conversationtosaurusrex I would also rather not hear about Cody's penis.

[@jeromewalker0]

I love Cody and I’m glad he’s back in WWE where he can replicate the John Cena path. That being said, as a hardcore AEW fan I don’t miss him at all.

[@kidz919]

Thats probably the majority of AEW fans as well. When and if he comes back to AEW, it will be interesting to see how the fans respond to him

[@fattiger6957]

His last year or so in AEW showed that the company had moved on from him. After the Malakai Black feud, he seemed to be just drifting along with no purpose or passion. And it didn't help that he seemed to constantly be taking breaks from TV to do other things. It was best for everyone that he left.

[@SecretSexSkeleton]

《Edit: ayo, just the first paragraph is really the relevant reply. Everything else is just the Special Edition Extended Cut with Director's Commentary. I.e. it's long af and I know people tend to have short attention spans. My bad? 🤷🏻》 @@fattiger6957 my guess is that somewhere around that specific time is when they were having trouble coming to terms on what was supposed to be his upcoming contract renewal. So they didn't want to keep him off TV completely, but also couldn't commit to any long-term plans. Not to mention the whole uncertainty with the dynamic between him and the fans making it all feel... weird. 《So yeah, all of this is... extra. ↓have fun but like, yknow.. you've been warned》 I personally think he wanted/was trying to work the Homelander-style "delusional heel who thinks he still is, and acts just like a (traditional) babyface" gimmick.. mostly because his hand was forced by the fans turning on him, sure. But I think he didn't want to do a boring old traditional heel turn and is clever enough that he figured out something better... albeit a long-term slow burn. Problem is his long-term future was still uncertain with the contract negotiation trouble. And in the end, the timing of it all was just.. so perfectly terrible. It still feels, to me, like we were smack dab in the middle of the story. The tiniest of hints had been dropped alluding to the heelish direction he was going. But they were still too few and too subtle for.. well, really MOST fans (who aren't as smart or as keyed-in to the psychology of it all as they like to think) to ever even pick up on any of it. At least not consciously, which is good if the story progresses, but so, so much worse if it gets cut short, because they don't even get to realize that he is TRYING to make them hate him more. Just not overtly yet. And wrestling is so over-the-top, that if it's not overt, they're probably gonna miss it. And from everything I can tell, the majority definitely missed it. Which is fair, because I don't think it would have been good if it was obvious where the story was going. Because Cody wasn't sure where HE was going. If he had been able to settle on a new contract, the story could have progressed and the clues to his heel turn could have then gotten more noticeable. But incase things ended up not working out with AEW (which they didn't) he wasn't, as a character, too committed to this heel persona he was undertaking to the point of creating a weird disconnect from the inevitable TRUE babyface personality shift when he went to WWE. And, just as an aside, I think Cody seems like the kinda guy who wants his his character, the wrestling personality he has carefully and actually rather meticulously cultivated, to stretch across promotions. I mean, that's why he left WWE in the first place. His character. It matters to him... enough to walk away from the biggest promotion in the world to take a gamble on the indies where he could re-craft it to what he felt it should be. So even if not everyone watches both WWE and AEW (hell, I didn't. Til HHH took over, I watched Rumble & Mania with a few other random bits occasionally. I'm giving Trip's WWE a fresh start, and thus far thing are looking up. I WANT to watch both. But only if both are worth watching. Fuck tribalism.) those that did would notice. They might not care, but I think he would. And so, in the end, what we wound up with was... weird. And honestly I think most wrestling fans are too quick to jump to conclusions. If they just paid a little more attention to nuance, detail, subtlety... they would notice so much more. If they maybe thought about it a little more... Hell, the fucking wrestlers do. The good ones, at least. Listening to some of the greats talk about wrestling psychology is fucking ridiculous with just how much thought can go into the tiniest of things most people will never notice. And don't forget, Cody has spent his entire life just absorbing all of the best knowledge from all of the greatest wrestlers like some kinda dashing, blonde Wrestling Sponge with a Dusty lisp and a bad neck tattoo. He knows wtf he's doing most of the time. Not all of the time, Ogogobviously, but he seems to learn from his mistakes. He managed to get a shocking amount of freedom with Vinny Mac still running WWE, so I'm honestly pretty fuckin' hyped to see what he can do now that Trips is at the helm. So if anyone made it to the end of this essay, then just do a few more little thing for me: -Pay more attention to the little things. Trust me when I say Holy Shit is wrestling so much more rewarding when you do. -Fuck herd mentality. Think about shit more, don't just listen to what the toxic fucks online think they know (yes I see the irony in that statement, except I'm not toxic. Maybe some kinda fuck, tho 🤔) -Hydrate. Nothing to do with wrestling, just drink more water. I'm told it's good for you, despite the fact that fish fuck in it. 👍 《...jfc why did I pour half my goddamn Codylander theory into a reply to a tiny thread on a comment halfway down the main comments page.... 93% of people won't even see this shit.. 🤦🏻 maybe it's time to go touch that grass I've heard so much about》

[@DasNordlicht91]

In retrospect, going to WWE may have worked out for the best for Cody (Wrestlemania 39 loss to Roman notwithstanding). He’s gotten increasingly over in the past few months, has been consistently a top merch seller, and just listen to the crowd shouting “WHOA-OH!” during Cody’s entrances every week.

[@ParsnipPizza]

He's the companies #1 babyface, and depending if he finally beats Roman at 40, he could have one of the most cathartic victories in recent wrestling history

[@coltonwilkie241]

The loss to Roman was actually the right call looking back. He got another Rumble win and he's now also feuding with The Rock. That wouldn't happen without the WM39 finish.

[@yragcom1]

The Cody problem was he didn't understand the audience. They loved giving him crap for wanting to stay the babyface. If you ever went to an AEW show he was on ( and I went to a few), he would address the crowd after the show, and he got a lot of respect in those moments. AEW fans didn't hate Cody. The fans loved to PRETEND they hated Cody.

[@foxfairchild2458]

Yourrrrrrrr FULL OF SHITTTTT!!! Lolzzz

[@claymathewselevator8121]

I still want Cody Rhodes vs Roderick Strong so he can complete his list from 2016

[@johnnybernie3061]

I think where it went wrong for Cody Rhodes was him faking his retirement after losing the Malakai Black. Everyone knew he was leaving to do the Go Big Show just to comeback and that’s what happened. Don’t know why he did that and it resulted fans to turn against him.

[@Great_Getter]

I think the retiring thing was solely for Black to say he had obe foot in tge grave during one of his rambling promos

[@Chigen_Atomic]

The TNT title win was treated as him creating his own consolation prize, but the title run definitely shifted opinions back to positive. Hell, that whole first run was great, as he was elevating the title and helping showcase these other wrestlers from different companies. It's how Eddie Kingston got his start. Latter day Cody had a terminal case of not reading the room. From the Factory feud and 'that' promo, feuding with Malakai, then a largely Brandy led feud with ATT. Plus refusing to turn heel. The build of the Codyverse was from the very beginning, as he had the grand rising entrance in the middle vs entering through the heel or face tunnel, then it turned into these exclusionary feuds where it felt almost like it was on another show. With his in-the-know references, it'd have been great to see him return like, "I'm the EVP, screw you guys, I'm using my EVP privilege to go after the AEW title." But in all honesty, I was never too bothered by the Codyverse shenanigans, it was more the effect it was starting to have on other people. Malakai and the House are just now starting to be on the upswing after some start and stop after the Cody feud. I think the question now is what will happen when the fans turn on him again, or he is out of the promised main event spot he returned to the WWE for. He doesn't have the same position of power he had in AEW to do that, so does he evolve or still stay the same course?

[@CornBreadtm1]

Well yeah, The TNT title was Cody's own FTW championship. Functioned exactly the same except had more branding.

[@comicdork1776]

So fans started hating him and treating him like crap and talking shit about him but then felt betrayed when he left the company? Yep sounds like wrestling fans

[@Basillikos]

Good summary of his AEW career. It's sad how it went out with a whimper, but ultimately his options became very limited due to his title stipulation and his very public refusal to turn heel. He badly wanted to be AEW's John Cena and he was never going to be in that position with how stacked the roster became and how many cards Tony had to shuffle. It's going to be interesting to see where he'll be in WWE when he returns. He was clearly the most over guy on Raw before his injury, but he's coming back to a Triple H run show. Haitch already has a lot of callups and pet projects earmarked in his first 2 weeks on duty, and more importantly he knows how to book faces.

[@Carlitonsp1]

"He badly wanted to be AEW's John Cena" Then he technically succeeded, because the people who supported AEW would have HATED John Cena a few years earlier. Just as they hated Roman a few years ago. He tried to fit into a mold that was overused and overexposed in front of people who were most thirsty for something different.

[@abelpantoja7134]

And then HHH booked Cody to be cooked at WM 39 by Roman Reigns and the Bloodline

[@elamcyril]

​@@abelpantoja7134 Cooked as in take not even a clean loss, then get put over clean by Brock freakin Lesner twice. Boohoo.

[@Humorless_Wokescold]

@@elamcyril Cody has been waffling in the breeze, man. If it weren't for Rollins and Gunther, the men's title scene would be non-existent. And, just to be clear, Cody was put over Lesnar clean once. The first win was a Dusty-finish.

[@elamcyril]

@@Humorless_Wokescold Is he though, he was put over by the same Rollins freaking 3 times in a row, given Royal Rumble win in his first year coming back as well as mainevent of WrestleMania, first win vs Solo by anyone in main roaster. The guy hasn't taken a single clean loss since he has come back but has clean win over Lesner. That dusty win is still a win over Lesner, even freaking Cena & Undertaker don't have a clean win over Lesner, but Cody has. If that's waffling, almost every single one in wrestling apart from very few would be begging to be waffled like that.

[@TheBeird]

I thought Cody had many great moments in AEW. I never got the booing but I always found it strange that he kinda felt isolated from the rest of the company at points. I’m not the first to think or say so, probably because it was so weird while the rest of AEW felt intertwined. I think he’s a great wrestler, but honestly, I don’t miss his presence in AEW. Good on him for his star turn in WWE, but it ain’t enough to make me watch them.

[@Awwscrewit]

I think the main issue fans had was that the second half of his AEW run felt more like Cody using talent to get himself over rather than using himself to get talent over.

[@pennyrods]

Cody’s having one hell of a year, he has two of my favorite matches this in both AEW and WWE, Sammy Guevara in that ladder match for the TNT belt and Seth Rollins in Hell in a Cell.

[@coreythompson7121]

While Cody's time in AEW had it's ups and downs,it was important and significant to the development of the company.

[@foundingfathersMMA]

I would actually love for Cody Rhodes to one day go back to this ‘Homelander’ character he developed. I think that it was so different in a good way. He does “piece of shit” very well with that attire. Love the idea of him not understanding what he is

[@thebigbop5866]

When he came out with that jet black hair I laughed so much, especially as "he'd gone to the darkness". Reminds me of that episode too of Always Sunny where Dennis does the same dye job. "Do I look foolish?"

[@BigmanDogs]

Cody losing the "cool factor" was definitely the problem. He became more and more corny as his AEW run went on. I remember seeing him walking out with that neck tattoo and it was like all the air got sucked out of me. I never looked at him the exact same way ever again.

[@gernblanston2652]

My wife hardly ever cusses. When he came out with that neck tattoo she loudly asked "What the fuck is that? ".

[@actuallynotsteve]

Yup, this is it right here. As soon as he became corny there was no looking back. That neck tattoo is unforgiveable as well.

[@skatewithnomercy]

It took me out of the match I didn't enjoy the match until time I watched.

[@emiliodominguez9045]

Ya'll wierd asf jus because a cat wants a tattoo wtf hahaha if the dude wanted a neck tattoo so bit it ya'll are corny hahaha

[@beebeecee669]

As if wrestling wasn't already corny. Stop pretending you're cool. You're not.

[@Real-qk6pm]

If it wasn’t 2022 this would be the story of the year, but in this year of chaos it’s just another Tuesday

[@SSJ2Phenom]

Reading comments on wrestling videos.on YT sucks these days. The often delusinal and nonsensical AEW stans and fanboys really need help if they actually believe even 30% of the BS they write.

[@ToxicAvengerCleanYourMind]

The thing about Rhodes is that he's worked his way to have very big staying power... He's done a lot in wrestling and has been impactful in historical sense.

[@Tiqalicious]

The issue with Cody Rhodes is that you cant set yourself up as anti establishment while clearly emulating the very same establishment you keep making grandiose gestures implying you're at war with. Every single bit of his presentation was tone deaf and inscincere. The solving racism promo, being locked out of the title thinking the fans would scream for it to be undone. Refusing to turn heel but also repeatedly allowing your heel wife to run in on your matches and do heel stuff and having no problem with it while you still insist you're a baby face, and thats not even getting into the weird fake retirement. Cody didn't have to go to WWE to reach the next level, all he had to do was put his money where his mouth was and actually listen to the fans he kept claiming to represent, but we all inevitably got sick of a guy who absolutely oozed insincerity. I guess now he can have the run he always wanted in WWE, unburdened by the pretense of pretending to be counter culture when nothing could ever have been farther from the truth.

[@M1keFoxxx]

well said

[@seabass5214]

man this is exactly how myself and a lot of people feel, really well written. Like yeah, it's wrestling but a lot of us came back to wrestling because of AEW and the words cody was saying. I guess it's on us to buy too much into the 'sincerity.' I think going back to WWE was the easy move, that audience will eat his shtick up. It's brand new to a lot of them and with the content they're used to it's a breath of fresh air. But for people who were big fans of his early on in AEW it's just lame.

[@CantRead1]

@@M1keFoxxx not really

[@BobbiHiru]

@@CantRead1 How so?

[@beebeecee669]

Almost like he was playing a parody slow smarks didn't get. You can't claim to be a wrestling fan and constantly armchair book.

[@claytonrios1]

Well things change Zane. Just like Michael Cole's commentary. It seems that Cody went from charisma vacuum to charismatic superstar.

[@solkey1781]

The main change was the audience

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@solkey1781 and what's that tell you?

[@MatthewBreck]

Wwe fans are the easiest to please. Will pop for food

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@MatthewBreck What? AEW fans cheer everything including the referees. Would be nice to hear a good ol fashioned "f*ck em up Hangman, f*ck em up" chant

[@sangan3202]

@@ReflectionOfPerfection maybe because the referees have character in aew lol, meanwhile wwe fans were cheering the dogshit raw booking for years

[@buhbuhjaychampagne1706]

Ppl can say “he should have turned heel” or “he’s trying to be the next Cena” all they want. He just channeled his inner Dusty and stayed a fan favorite. Dusty had opportunities to turn heel and didn’t. He didn’t either. His downfall was his wife HAD to be on tv as much, if not more than, him. The Nightmare Collective was horrible. Each match she had to be there, putting her two cents in. She had to slap Dan Lambert, she threw a drink in Shaq’s face. She had to be the center of attention. If he would come out solo, it wouldn’t have been as bad.

[@andu1854]

Yeah But Cody is a way better heel, that is the problem and no, being an idiot wrestling a match he had no reason to wrestler due to a torn pec, so he could get Vince to Viagra cream his pants, don’t impress me much

[@Great_Getter]

This so much. I honestly think the crowd just wanted to hate him. I'd he'd lost to Ogogo the crowd would have booed him for losing to someone greener then grass. It's weird when you look at the who the crowd dies cheer. Malachi straight up buried the blondes in one of the worst segments ever (the crowd even booed The Lucha Bros. when they came out) but practically worship him and cry fowl when someone kicks out of him or his Nerd brigade. Or Jade who fir quit a bit was clearly barely able to do 1 minute matches. (Granted se got way better and is amazing now.)

[@bdr113080]

Honestly, the whole reason I had faith in AEW was because Cody was involved. That first all in independent without Cody that doesn’t happen. Seen him with the NWA world title right when Billy was finally starting the NWA back up I really had my hopes up for the future of wrestling. I thought we were going to see great things from NWA and then when I heard about AEW and Cody was going to be involved. I was all in for it. But then Cody was the only thing worth the damn on the show. Anytime Cody wasn’t done or for my nostalgia, Sting, I was just really annoyed with AEW. For the life of me, I don’t know how someone as smart as Cody would align himself with the elite, who don’t really seem to respect the history of wrestling, Cody got to where he is because he had advice from his father and DDP and his brother Dustin along with probably two dozen other wrestlers that were relevant in the 80s and 90s. Cody was without a doubt the best wrestler in the elite, if you want to say he’s not as athletic as kenny and the bucks I’ll give you that , but those guys I don’t even think understand what wrestling psychology is when I hear their fanbase or Dave Meltzer talk about psychology they think doing a move that you did six months earlier in Japan is what psychology is and that’s the answer they give you you don’t even know where to start to correct them because you know they are just lost. I was so excited for AEW, but it just turned out to be everything wrong with modern wrestling wrapped up in one company just with a lot of money. And I’m not this big pro WWE guy although I do think right now coming off wrestlemania this is the most promising? The company has looked since 2002 in my opinion. I really wish Vince McMahon would’ve just let H start booking back in 2002 because we just watched the company get worse and worse overtime. But with Cody free of the deadweight that was the elite and Vince McMahon being vanished forever guess what we got…… we got Cody headlining wrestlemania, and he finally beat Roman reigns. He’s at the top of the pro wrestling world now without the deadweight, and now that Vince McMahon is gone. I think Cody is probably going to enjoy the next three or four years of his career being on top of the wrestling business and I think eventually Tony ‘s dad is going to pull the plug on AEW. Yes, they are making millions in revenue and hundreds of thousands and ticket sales but they haven’t turned a profit yet. He still has not paid his father back for the 100 million. And his dad did not become a billionaire thinking that it’s OK to spend 100 million as long as you put 23 million back but then you’ve got to take out from that 23 million everybody’s paychecks, gas for the rain trucks, etc. I gave up on modern wrestling in the 2000s but with Cody in the position he is now and knowing Vince McMahon is never ever ever coming back again I’m going to give WWE a second chance and it’s gonna take a lot for me to give AEW another chance . Tony needs to realize that him and the AEW fan and Dave Meltzer are the ones that are fans of high spots and hard-core matches. And there’s nothing wrong with any of those but if you just keep doing those things without reason every show they don’t mean anything. We’ve seen higher or dives and higher Falls, and more athletic moves than Mick Foley, hell in the bump from the undertaker….. but how come none of these other ones that were done from higher distances or maybe even three flips were included mean a quarter of much as when mankind did it? I guarantee you, not, uncle Dave, not Tony , himself and 90% of the AEW roster could tell you the answer, but it Hass to do with wrestling psychology. Bottom line Cody needed to leave WWE to prove he was good enough. If he had a chance to be himself, he could dominate the wrestling landscape and he did that but once he dominated it the only company that can really support a legacy career right now is WWE.

[@benjaminweinstein9704]

I was in the building during the promo when Cody laid the stipulation that would not allow him to challenge for the world title. At the time it seemed honorable - it drove home the point that he wasn’t there to be VKM or HHH despite his title and power. But man, when he lost (which I honestly thought would not happen), it immediately seemed like a mistake, because it killed Cody’s build. It made his ceiling the mid-card only when he would have been more valuable in the world title scene and allowed the TNT title to be the young star builder title. The TNT title when introduced after the stipulation went into effect very much felt it was designed for Cody to hold in lieu of the World title. Then his refusal to turn heel and go back on his word to challenge for the World title, saying he would never turn heel in AEW was the killer blow for Cody in AEW. He wanted to be a top face, but his character arc screamed he needed a Heel turn. That’s why when he went to WWE, it made sense because he finally could be a top Face without being booed.

[@CoralCopperHead]

Shaq/Jade v Rhodes/Velvet might've been a really weird match, but props to Shaq and Rhodes for making that final table spot look so good.

[@milkdudder]

You missed two MAJOR factors of why the fans turned on him. Rhodes To The Top. Go Big Show. Cody left for months on end to film reality TV, which is something the AEW audience hated about WWE. And then left again to judge a cheesy talent show. His priorities felt less and less about actually caring about his wrestling.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

I remember him having Snoop Dogg in his corner for a Dynamite match vs Matt Sydal

[@fattiger6957]

Yep. For that last year or so, Cody was barely on AEW TV. Then he shows up and hogs up time pretending to be the top face in the company to a chorus of boos. I guess it was a foregone conclusion that he was done with AEW after the Malakai Black feud.

[@PunksInVegas]

I think there were two prevailing ideas: creating an alternative to WWE or using the AEW platform to anchor one's journey towards an eventual WWE return. I think Cody for all many great things he did in AEW was always going to return to WWE and I imagine that may explain why he made baffling decisions not to turn heel. It was never that he was ex-WWE that annoyed sections of the fan base, but that there was certainly a sense that he wasn't as fully committed to making AEW what it is now and what it can still become. Especially with such a stacked roster, Cody really just became an after thought. He had incredible matches - especially with the late, great Mr Brodie Lee and later with Sammy Guevara. In pursuit of autheniticty in wrestling, Cody's character just came off as insincere, he wanted to be that sports entertainer, larger-than-life media figure, cut from his father's legend. There's nothing wrong with that. I just think TK and the Bucks/Kenny ultimately had a different vision for the company and they won out ultimately. Both are better off for him returning to WWE.

[@Humorless_Wokescold]

Internet commentators trying to present themselves as being appreciative of Cody Rhodes is kinda dumb. January of last year the unanimous consensus was that Cody was riding the coattails of Omega and that he shouldn't be associated with AEW. The idea that turning heel would have repaired the problem is, to me, just flatly dishonest. When Rhodes handed his belt to a kid in the audience the audience booed the kid for accepting it. When Brandi was told she needed to be put in her place like all liberal women, the audience cheered the guy who said it. Pretending that you or any AEW fan has positive feeling towards Cody is... kinda duplicitous. This wasn't heel heat. This wasn't fans trying to lean into a gimmick they assumed a wrestler was going for. This was pretty obviously a rejection of the performer themselves not the character they were presenting. I've been trying to catch up on the last two years of storylines (the Sami vs Roman stuff has pulled me back in) a lot of wrestling commentators are coming off like huge hypocrites to me. If you hate a guy, hate them. Don't flip on a dime like this.

[@effayeyeayzed]

Simply put, 1. World Title Stipulation 2. Not turning heel to override that stipulation and have a golden run - Natural Heel - Talented Storyteller

[@swan4568]

ADRENALINE IN MY SOUL ZANE’S APOLOGIZING TO CODY RHODES.

[@JakeRyanBooth]

Leaving the house he helped build was the greatest thing he’s ever done for himself.

[@vladboch]

To be honest, even when he was at his lowest of lows with a big portion of the audience turning against him, Cody's segments and matches still were some of my favourite stuff on the show. Although, I'll admit, his last year in the company was really underwhelming. I thought we were going somewhere with this Homelander delusional heel shtick, with a potential to make him the biggest heel in the business if he would go back on his word to never challenge for the world title and take it away from our favourite Millenial Cowboy - Hangman Page. But it just never went anywhere. Then came his sudden departure, frustation and finally very emotional unexpected comeback to WWE, which in a weird way felt like the best conclusion to his unbelievable run outside the company. I was shocked that Vince allowed him to just be himself, and maybe now when he comes back under Triple H, another chapter will be added to the incredible story of The American Nightmare.

[@parkerthehurricanethomas]

Me watching this after Cody Rhodes won his 2nd Royal Rumble. Great work

[@guillermosierracuellar9812]

Watching this after cody won the 2024 rumble and got the wwe 2k24 ad before the video started

[@justdirt]

I never expected Cody to ever leave AEW especially to go back to WWE. But AJ left tna, Flair had left WCW, Kurt Angle left WWE. Sometimes moving on is exactly what someone needs to do. But look how he was booked once getting back. Grand return at Mania vs Seth, keeping his gimmick, his attire, and his entrance theme. Treated like a main event guy from day 1. I expect to see Cody with at least one world title run. Cody did everything in AEW. Outside of breaking his promise and fighting for the world title, Cody had nothing left to give. He had done 10 years worth of storylines and matches in the last 5. Having a kid and realizing he just wasn't ready to really help run a company probably spurred him on to signing else where. Maybe it was a pride thing, he had proven he could succeed outside of WWE, and he needed to prove to himself he could make it as a top guy back in the WWE. I have to admit, I was one of those fans who felt somewhat betrayed by Cody. Now I got over it very quickly but I can understand why some fans are still bitter. A message to them, it's just wrestling. Cody didn't stab the company or his friends in the back. He didn't fuck over the company on his way out. He dropped the belt, put over a younger guy, and left quietly. He did everything the right way. He is a person and he made a choice, please just respect that

[@ds4life886]

I don't think a wrestling fan could be betrayed if a wrestler leaves a company. Companies fan (mark) yes. But that isn't a good thing.

[@elneco4654]

@@ds4life886 Real question, what does "mark" actually mean? Is it a brand fan? Is it someone who believes it's real? Is it someone who has an ego? I've seen it used for all three, that's why I ask.

[@thaiwatchdog]

One common theme behind Cody and Punk’s departure? Hardcore toxic AEW fans 😂

[@SmoMontana]

Yeah they were turning on them on they last days of the company

[@brendan7030ify]

My biggest problem with Cody in AEW is that he was never willing to just lose a feud (other than against mjf) even if it was against someone who was raging hot at the moment. The fact the Malakai didn't win that feud outright was the moment I gave up on caring about Cody

[@journeymanX]

Cody in aew is like a 5 star michelin chef,working at mcdonalds,he offers a gourmet masterpiece but the simple minded 3am drunks want the usual slop

[@shawncayton1108]

I don’t know why AEW fans would be upset that he left he was getting booed by them so

[@punklover99]

We like him as a worker, the tweener isn't for him. They really should have just let him turn heel

[@kokotheclown2588]

The Thing that made him fail it’s that he wouldn’t turn heel Kenny did same with the bucks cause they knew people would hate them and they embrace it working to great success along with gold and made them fan favorites despite being heels another thing Cody was stuck in the trying to be baby face angle knowing full well that Mox along with other more popular and young talent we’re taking that spot

[@danielduquette5588]

I look back at Cody’s AEW run as unfinished. There were a lot of match-ups left on the table and we don’t know if he was going to lean into a new delusional heel character, that would likely eventually gotten him cheered again. There was a lot of good and there was bad stuff also (that’s gonna happen in a new company finding the right formula), but his contributions are undeniable and I would welcome a Cody AEW return down the road (even if it’s a one-off/still under WWE contract).

[@damienhextv6699]

Personally I think Codys departure from AEW had little to do with his in-ring booking and more to do with his position in the company. Yes his "storylines" weren't always the best and yes there were other bigger stars brought into the company such as CM Punk and Bryan Danielson etc that were going to "outshine" him, but I don't think that actually bothered him. I think his passion lay in being in management having a say in the running of the company as an EVP and when THAT got stripped away by Tony Khan, when the title of EVP became about as worthless as "General Manager" in WWE, is when he couldn't be around AEW anymore. Hell there were reports that he was the only one of the EVPs attending the meetings anymore. Kenny was off looking after the Womens division, Bucks were off doing BTE and looki Tag Team side of things. Codys passion was management. And he lost that. It would make anyone want to walk away.

[@georgeh4171]

Exactly. I also think his idea of wrestling is closer to the sport entertainment ideals of the WWE. Whereas AEW seems to be focused on more of a niche indie style. So Cody left.

[@jmiyagi12345]

I don't know... didn't he recently say that he did not want to have a position in the office any time soon anymore because of his latest experience, that he would rather be an in ring talent?

[@damienhextv6699]

@@jmiyagi12345 Still falls in line with what I was saying, his experience of being stripped from the position of being behind the scenes running the company and having a say. He could of still been in ring talent in AEW but the fact that he left to do it in the very company he wanted nothing to do with prior and that AEW are trying to compete against kinda speaks volumes.

[@jmiyagi12345]

@@damienhextv6699 maybe there are other interviews where he clarifies this, but I don't quite see it the same way: "Never say never, just general because in six years if we're having this conversation again and I've completely gone back on what I said, I don't think I want a management job in wrestling ever again," Rhodes said. "I don't think I was mature enough for it. And -- I tried." From this article here: www.f4wonline.com/.amp/news/wwe/wwe-cody-rhodes-i-dont-think-i-want-a-management-job-in-wrestling-ever-again

[@imaratspal]

Honestly Brian, it was baffling to say that even in 2016. He was doing the dashing stuff, then the stuff with the mask, being with Sandow, and then the fired storyline where he got his job back. Even the Stardust stuff showed he was charismatic.

[@LexysHereAfter]

Really great video on the subject. For my money no one has changed the landscape of wrestling more in those six years than Cody Rhodes, and truly taken that whole "brass ring" thing to another level. I'm happy for him that he's back in WWE poised to be THE guy when he gets back from injury. I would've loved to seen Cody do a full heel Homelander run in AEW and weasel out of the world title stip to win it and then essentially refuse to defend it against certain people (Punk, Danielson, etc). I do think leaning into that would've been money and he could've had a redemption arc, but it didn't happen and the reality we're left with is still a great one that is promising. Going to be really interesting where things go from here, especially with Trips in charge and MJF going radio silent. HHH would let MJF be MJF far more than Vince. I think we see MJF vs Cody headline a Mania for the world title.

[@jamalvargas6146]

To Be Fair Cody Rhodes Got The Same Treatment as John Cena in 2006 during the latter half of his AEW run

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Cena didn't take his ball and go home though

[@Beatnu3000]

Going forward, I’m just really interested in seeing how the Cody/Triple H relationship evolves with Levesque heading creative now.

[@DannyBZ9]

Him going to AEW in the first place was his biggest mistake. Very smart getting out of that joke of an indy mud show!

[@georgeaghimien3234]

This intro is one of the best original youtube intros I have heard in awhile

[@MrJerkelm]

The least believable part of any of this was saying that the Bucks were ever "cool" they were just the Little Tikes brand Hardy Boys but with louder mouths backed by less interesting personalities

[@slashim]

One of your greatest videos, while I don't agree with everything, well done. I would've brought up how it seemed like cody left the elite and created the jobber nightmare factory but I recognize you only had so much time. But honestly, I think Brandi had a lot to do with Cody's decline in AEW, and I think that can be seen how she hasn't been allowed anywhere near his WWE run.