The Cody Rhodes that fans know and love today in WWE is a product of the greater professional wrestling world. After initially departing WWE in 2016, Rhodes hit the independent circuit, wrestling in just about every indie promotion under the sun. Rhodes eventually found a home in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, global companies that provided him the opportunity to win gold and make crucial business relationships. All roads eventually led to the formation of All Elite Wrestling, a company that Rhodes served as one of four Executive Vice Presidents in. While Rhodes’s fingerprints were all over AEW at the beginning, his EVP title by the end was reportedly just that, a title.
“The thing I miss so much from the period of being an executive is that office,” Rhodes told Fightful. “It was just the center of fun for me and anyone that came in there knows about that. I think everyone get the sense that business was usual. Very few had the time with me, because my office was this rotating door of nonsense. We’d get in there and start talking wrestling and we’d almost forget there’s a show going on.
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“I think everyone knew because I really took so much pride in being an executive, I took so much pride in trying to be a leader and always dressing the best, always trying to be organized and on time, having a format out, some information even in a place that’s a bit more chaotic or a bit more punk rock. I took that very seriously and really loved that role.”
Dissension between Rhodes and AEW began towards the end of 2021. The specifics of the issues that led to Rhodes’s departure were never publicized, and his exit was never explicitly woven into a storyline.
“That’s kind of the way it needed to be, pull the Band-Aid right off. One week I’m there and one week I wasn’t,” Rhodes said. “I remember there were some guys that were tasked with loading my stuff and they’re making a big scene out of it. No, just do it man. This is part of it, people come. People go. You have a good season of your life. I think because we ripped the Band-Aid off so quickly, there wasn’t time for a big tumultuous fallout.”
Rhodes faces Brock Lesnar on Saturday, August 5th at WWE SummerSlam.
