"Our own freedom has been our biggest enemy" - Cody Rhodes on where AEW can improve
AEW Dynamite kicked off in October of 2019. Their first show was live in Washington DC in front of a sold-out arena of excited and energetic fans.
A lot has changed for the company in the course of a little over a year, and Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes is no stranger to that reality. He also knows that the company isn't perfect and that there is room for them to improve going forward.
Rhodes was the guest on the latest edition of AEW wrestler Chris Jericho's top-rated podcast, Talk is Jericho. When Jericho asked Rhodes where AEW could improve things in the future, The American Nightmare had a lot to say on the subject.
"One of our biggest pros is also our biggest con, no pun intended. It's that we have such freedom. So, such freedom sometimes means that things are too similar on the same show. Well, this guy's asking me to join team FTW, and this group they're asking if he'll join... That's one of those areas where that freedom is fun and pro, and it's like they're not worried about the traditional rules, it's punk rock, but also you have to be disciplined so that it doesn't desensitize the show. To me, a show has to work not unlike a promo works. There has to be this beginning, there has to be this climb in the middle, and then there's some heat, and then there's some big finish. It has to be like a flow. To me, eight times out of ten, we've got the flow right. But on night's where we haven't, it's because our own freedom has been our biggest enemy, but I'd rather that than a sanitized C+ show."
Cody grades the first year of AEW as an "A"
Jericho also asked Rhodes to reflect upon his first year-plus with the company. He also wanted to know if being a wrestler and a member of management in AEW was more difficult than he thought it would be. Rhodes responded:
"Somebody asked me to grade it. Of course, as part of the company, you're not going to give it a bad grade, but I said "A, and there's room for an A+." We know where we need to grow. This has been, AEW's first year, if it had been it's last year, thank gosh it wasn't, it's still been the greatest year of my life. Learned a lot of lessons. Learned some hard lessons about the burdens of management. If you were popular before you're definitely not going to be popular as you enter that space."
How do you think the first year of AEW went? What changes would you like to see the company implement this year going forward? Let us know by sounding off in the comments section below.