Brandi Rhodes opens up about taking blame for AEW women's division woes: "No one stood up"
Former AEW Chief Branding Officer Brandi Rhodes held several roles in the company and was an important member of the promotion's founding team. However, AEW's women's division remains a sore spot for plenty of people, and in its early days, a lot of the blame was directed at the wife of Cody Rhodes.
Cody and Brandi Rhodes were in high-profile positions in AEW before their departure in early 2022. Alongside her duties as CBO, Brandi was also an in-ring performer. Unfortunately, most fans remember her for her association with the failed Nightmare Collective faction and her segments with American Top Team founder Dan Lambert.
Speaking on Ring the Belle, Rhodes confirmed that she had a lot of influence on the female talent that AEW hired in its earliest phase:
"I was very influential on a lot of the talent that came in in the beginning, for sure. (...) I really did just want to be somebody who was there for the women to run things by, having worked in the industry for a while. Sometimes, it’s tough to talk to men about what our issues are, what we’re trying to do, so I kind of wanted to be there to bridge the gap. And I think in the beginning, things worked out really well with that, and, you know, I don’t know that they stayed." (11:00 - 11:41)
Brandi received a lot of criticism for her poorly received segments and storylines throughout her time in AEW. However, the former CBO noted that while much of the blame seemed to fall on her, she wasn't the only one involved:
"What was the most hurtful about it to me was not that people looked to me and said, ‘Hey, you, do something about this, or maybe this is your fault,’ but that no one stood up and said it’s not. That’s something that was really easy to do. It doesn’t look good coming from me in the moment to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t me,’ so I’m not gonna do that. But there are plenty of people that I felt like could have stepped in, said, ‘Hey, you guys, this is a joint effort. This is not all on one person.’ But that never was done and never was said, and to this day, I feel like this is the first time I’m talking about that." (11:59 - 12:31)
Check out Brandi's full interview below:
How many matches did Brandi Rhodes wrestle in AEW?
Despite being known primarily as an announcer in WWE, Brandi developed her skills in the ring after she and Cody Rhodes departed the Stamford-based promotion in 2016.
Brandi Rhodes made her in-ring AEW debut at Fight for the Fallen 2019, one of the company's earliest events. She would continue to wrestle sporadically throughout her tenure there while also working behind the scenes as the company's Chief Branding Officer and ambassador to nonprofit partner Kulture City.
Ultimately, Brandi Rhodes wrestled 20 matches for All Elite Wrestling, with her last nine coming on YouTube shows AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation before her departure.
Would you like to see Brandi Rhodes return to the ring someday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!