Cody Rhodes’ Canceled War Games Match Explained

At this year’s Survivor Series PLE, Cody Rhodes will step into a steel cage for his first ever WarGames match, a match that his father Dusty Rhodes had a hand in creating. Long before The American Nightmare was announced as a competitor in the match in WWE, he was almost part of AEW’s first ever Blood and Guts match, the company’s version of “WarGames”. 

In 2020, The Elite (Rhodes, Matt and Nick Jackson, “Hangman” Adam Page, and Kenny Omega) were all set to face off against The Inner Circle in the inaugural Blood and Guts television special. Due to the COVID pandemic halting those plans alongside the younger Jackson brother getting injured at the hands of The Inner Circle, the match never took place and instead the two teams (sans Rhodes) competed in one of the most memorable matches in AEW history, the Stadium Stampede. By the time things had opened up again and the first Blood and Guts event was set to take place, The Elite had mostly gone their separate ways. A new group, The Pinnacle (AEW World Champion MJF, Wardlow, FTR, and Shawn Spears) was also on the rise.

What Could Have Been in AEW

In response to WWE claiming they would be going a bit edgier just without the “blood and guts” that they graduated from, many people (including AEW) perceived it as a shot at the company. In 2019 AEW trademarked the phrase and by March 2020 the first Blood and Guts match was set: The Elite would wrestle The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz). At the time, both of these groups were the biggest in AEW and they both wanted to prove why they were the best. Jericho believed that he was the reason AEW was as successful as it was which made The Elite upset. This is a company named after them that they had a hand in creating and Jericho was taking all of the credit for it? 

Because of the halt in their plans, The Elite were forced to pivot and the tension within the group could not have been greater. Page was furthering his descent into alcoholism and was eventually thrown out of The Elite, leading him to finding solace in The Dark Order and getting the confidence to do big singles matches again. The Young Bucks and Omega were in the midst of their heel runs, cutting promos in tacky mismatched outfits and expensive sneakers, all the while Rhodes was on his own island competing as a top star within the company. In the time since Rhodes’ departure from AEW, The Elite have competed in more than a few hardcore style matches, including several Blood and Guts.

With what we saw of Rhodes in AEW and even in WWE, he is no stranger to a blood feud. In WWE Rhodes wrestled with a torn pectoral muscle, one of the most gruesome moments in WWE. While in AEW one of his most memorable “crimson mask” moments was when he wrestled his brother Dustin at AEW Double or Nothing 2019. Not only did it tell a fantastic story of the “brother vs. brother” trope, it showed exactly why AEW is an alternative which is when many AEW fans feel the company is at its best. This can be seen as recently as last weekend when Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page wrestled their second match which turned into an absolute bloodbath.

Rhodes may not have “finished the story” just yet, but he’s got a new chapter of the story he’s well on his way to finishing. One where he will etch his name in the history books of people that have competed inside of WarGames, something that holds a lot of significance within the Rhodes family.

WWE Survivor Series 2023 Card

• War Games: WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn and Randy Orton vs. The Judgment Day (Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh) and Drew McIntyre
• War Games: Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi and Becky Lynch vs. Damage CTRL (WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky, Bayley, Asuka, Kairi Sane)
• WWE Intercontinental Championship: Gunther (c) vs. The Miz
• WWE Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Zoey Stark
• Carlito vs. Santos Escobar