Cody Rhodes has stated multiple times that he wants to acquire the trademarks for Starrcade and The Great American Bash, two events his father Dusty Rhodes created back in the 80s. Both brands are currently in WWE‘s possession thanks to their acquisition of WCW back in 2001, and the company has finally decided to revive the Great American Bash for the next two weeks of NXT in order to go head-to-head with AEW’s Fyter Fest editions of AEW Dynamite. Rhodes has already stated that he doesn’t mind WWE bringing back the brand, and he said as much again when he appeared on Busted Open Radio on Tuesday.
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However, he does still have a problem with how WWE has treated Starrcade. The show was once Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW’s version of WrestleMania but since 2017, WWE has been using it as an annual house show event.
“I’m not going to get angry because it still brings up his name in a positive way,”It’s a unique marketing thing and I’m not really upset about it,” Rhodes said. (h/t Pro Wrestling Sheet for transcript). “I know my sister thought it was strange that it was announced willy-nilly and last minute. In the strangest of ways, I would hope that they do something special with it.”
“I think our show is better. I think our show it will be better in execution, but I hope they do something special with it because I hated what Michael Hayes did with Starrcade,” he added “He took a creation of my Dad’s and made it a live event because they weren’t selling any tickets in North Carolina and he wanted to save his job.”
Here’s what AEW has planned for both nights of Fyter Fest. Both shows will take place at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.
Night 1
- AEW TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Jake Hager
- AEW World Tag Team Championships: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. The Best Friends
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida vs. Penelope Ford
- Jurassic Express vs. MJF and Wardlow
- Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz
Night 2
- AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage
- Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy
- FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher & The Blade and The Lucha Bros.
- Brodie Lee, Stu Grayson and Colt Cabana vs. SCU
- Lance Archer vs. Joey Janela
- Nyla Rose vs. TBD
And here’s what NXT has announced for The Great American Bash so far. The shows will be held inside Full Sail Live in Orlando.
Night 1
- Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks
- Dakota Kai vs. Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae vs. Tegan Nox — Winner gets an NXT Women’s Championship Match
- Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis — Strap Match
- Rhea Ripley vs. Aliyah and Robert Stone
- Oney Lorcan vs. Timothy Thatcher
Night 2
- NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship — Adam Cole vs. Keith Lee
