Cody Rhodes reveals the biggest mistake he made in AEW - "I want to make it clear"
Cody Rhodes wrestled for AEW during the company's early years. He has now revealed a big mistake he made in the company.
Cody Rhodes was an instrumental part of AEW during the company's early years. He served as an Executive Vice President of the company and was involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.
Despite being in such a powerful position, the American Nightmare never exploited it for any personal or professional gain. In fact, he booked himself into a storyline where he faced Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship with the stipulation being that if he lost the match, he would never challenge for the world title in the company. Rhodes ended up losing the match and he never competed for the world title again.
Cody addressed this decision on the Flagrant podcast stating that he was afraid that he would be judged for abusing his power in the company:
"I was terrified of winning the championship even though there's kind of these revisionist history the last year I was a bad guy. They were booing me left and right. But those first two years and especially those first few months, I was the hottest thing they had and that was a great spot to be in. But my fear was if I win the title, I'm abusing this. I'm the Executive Vice President and my dad who was the Executive Vice President and the Executive Producer of Jim Crockett promotions, he had won the championship and the people loved it. But later, the Meltzer and not knocking Dave by any means, but the industry journalists that's something they looked at and they would judge and I would say it's a huge mistake that I went that route because I was hot and the fans were happy."
Looking back on his decision, Cody said that it was perhaps a mistake to put such a stipulation in place:
"So, in my mind, I didn't want to do it and we put ourselves in a situation where I can never challenge for it again. I remember it's wrestling. Clearly, you can go back on it and I told him like, 'Nope. This is a never go back on. I want to make it clear.'' I want to make my stories just as big as the world title which was problem in itself. You might as well be world champion. But that story was the one I had a good control on. I'd look back at it and say perhaps that decision was a mistake but my heart was in the place of I didn't want fans to think I'm going to abuse this position. Clearly, I'm juiced into the office and helping lead this forward. I didn't want them to think I was that even though probably from a creative standpoint, it would've been just fine." [1:11:45 - 1:13:15]
Cody Rhodes became a World Champion in WWE
Everything worked out well for Cody Rhodes in the end as he returned back to WWE at WrestleMania 38. Since then, he has been one of the biggest stars in the company and even won the Royal Rumble consecutively.
Additionally, Cody Rhodes went on to have his WrestleMania moment when he defeated Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship earlier this year. With this win, the American Nightmare finally achieved his lifelong dream and completed his story.
It's amazing to see Cody Rhodes come a long way since his time in AEW and he still has a long way to go in his career.
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