AEW’s Brandi Rhodes Describes Rhodes Family Drama Over Her Wrestling Name on Rhodes to the Top Premiere

TNT premiered its new reality show Rhodes to the Top this week, diving into the lives of AEW’s Cody & Brandi Rhodes as they juggle being wrestlers, working as top officials backstage and growing their family. The first episode starts back in May while Brandi is still pregnant with their daughter, Liberty, and midway through the dynamic between her and the rest of Cody’s family is introduced. 

At one point Brandi describes the tension she had with Cody’s sister, Teil, over her using the Rhodes last name as part of her wrestling persona. While Brandi worked primarily as a ring announcer during her time in WWE she started wrestling consistently in 2016 and is working on making a comeback after having her baby in June. 

“I feel like Teil and I are pretty small talk-y just because Teil was and has continued to be the most difficult family member for me,” Brandi says. “The day that I was supposed to have my very first wrestling match on live television. I see a message from Cody’s sister Teil, it’s a book about this long (extends her hands out) about how I didn’t ask her if I could use the Rhodes name. (She wrote) ‘You’re not a Rhodes. By marriage only.’ Dusty (Rhodes, Cody’s father) and I were always close. I absolutely asked his permission to use the Rhodes name. So that was a very souring opening experience for me.”

Teil responds by saying she felt it didn’t feel appropriate for her to use the name because, at the time, Dusty had recently passed.

“My family, they still kind of look at Brandi as if she’s not fully in. And nothing will let you know she’s fully in like a baby show, folks,” Cody says. “She ain’t going nowhere.”

Brandi is later shown squashing some backstage drama between Jade Cargill and Red Velvet while having them come together to help taste test her new wine. The two wrestlers reconcile and she jokes that “if only I could do the same with Cody’s family, then we’re good.”

Rhodes to The Top will air each week on TNT following AEW Dynamite at 10 p.m. EST.