Cody Rhodes encountered a challenging situation in 2021, his last full year with AEW.
He was still an executive vice president of the corporation, but he no longer hung out with the other members of The Elite on AEW TV. One of the top talents in the business, the former TNT Champion was never able to contend for the AEW World Championship due to his own scheduling decisions.
A string of embarrassing feuds with people like Anthony Ogogo, QT Marshall, and Malakai Black also contributed to the decline in fan favour he had accrued while leaving WWE.
It reached the point where supporters openly rebelled against Rhodes and demanded that he adopt the malevolent persona of “The American Nightmare” by going on the offensive. But Rhodes used a different strategy, declaring in promos, “I will not turn!” and asserting that his deeds were still worthy.
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He recently acknowledged in an interview with Sam Roberts that he was still acting as a wrestling heel by not giving the audience what they wanted. But he also acknowledged that the concept became a little too “meta” and failed to appeal to supporters.
However, Rhodes revealed in February 2022 that he was departing AEW, ending his “heel” run before it could conclude in any form of narrative or championship event. At WrestleMania 38, less than two months later, he would triumphantly return to WWE. But was Rhodes’ “heel” originally intended to be in AEW? It was planned to conclude with a match against Sting, according to a recent interview with ComicBook given to promote the debut of American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes said, “I was supposed to wrestle Sting. “I don’t believe I’ve ever disclosed that to anyone, and nothing was recorded on paper or in any other way. But I can say that AEW made me a fantastic offer in terms of both creativity and money.”And it’s one of those things, you can wrestle one of your heroes or you can work with one of your heroes and he can be the head of creative (Paul Levesque), you can’t have it all,” he continued.
“And I think one thing I do pride myself on as a wrestler is I will make a decision. It might be a left turn, it might be exactly where you think I’m going, but I will make a decision. I will not get stuck because I felt like I’d been stuck early in my career and never want to be that way again.”