Cody Rhodes arrived at AEW Revolution on Saturday sporting a brand new tattoo of the Nightmare Family logo on the right side of his neck. Fans were taken aback by the tattoo at first, criticizing the AEW executive vice president for putting it in such an odd place. Even his wife Brandi Rhodes admitted she wasn’t a fan, telling the media after Revolution, “I’m the one person that doesn’t like the neck tattoo, I don’t like it. I’ve said it, there it is.”
On Monday Rhodes took to his Instagram account to respond to the backlash, giving a glimpse into the thought process behind it before teasing an explanation on the latest “Road To…” episode this Tuesday.
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AEW president Tony Khan also commented on Rhodes’ decision.
“It’s a mixed choice,” Khan said. “For some mainstream roles, it’s gonna make it hard to be like Bruce Wayne. But for a wrestling brand, Cody’s presentation and instincts are off the charts. Before we even started AEW, I feel as a wrestler he’s gone so far. I told him I support whatever he wants to do. I told him it could be badass for wrestling but it could be a little hindrance if he wanted to do mainstream roles. But he wants to be a badass wrestler.”
Unfortunately for Rhodes the new ink didn’t bring him any luck on Saturday night. Maxwell Jacob Friedman wound up beating “The American Nightmare” at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago after pulling the Dynamite Diamond Ring out of his trunks and punching Rhodes in the face while he attempted his third CrossRhodes of the night.
Elsewhere on the show Hangman Page and Kenny Omega managed to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships without imploding, Nyla Rose retained against Kris Statlander and Jon Moxley ended Chris Jericho’s six-month reign as AEW World Champion by dethroning “Le Champion” in the main event.
