It begins.
The whole wrestling world is in a standstill as this was the last exit from a company anyone thought would be possible.
After all the hyped up revolution and momentum that AEW has been building since their first AEW “Dynamite” show on October, 2nd 2019 one of the founding pieces have decided to leave AEW.
Sources have confirmed that Cody & Brandi Rhodes officially announced their departures from AEW on Tuesday February, 15th 2022 and this situation is as real as it gets. There is no “work” or performance at play here.
Cody Rhodes had been negotiating a new deal with Tony Khan for the past few months and as we previously reported the “EVP” (Executive Vice Presidents) contracts that Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes all signed when they helped form AEW are no longer being offered by Tony Khan.
This became a huge issue internally at AEW and was something Cody Rhodes very much wanted to remain as his title. Tony Khan instead was offering performance bonuses and other compensation that Cody Rhodes was just not interested in.
When the two sides couldn’t come together on a new deal Cody and AEW decided to go their separate ways and now the whole wrestling world is in a standstill.
The question now is what does Cody Rhodes do now ?
Cody Rhodes will be exploring all options before making any long-term commitments and good standing relationships with NJPW, IMPACT and ROH will certainly be landing spots for Cody Rhodes.
There is also a possible WWE return as Vince McMahon has newfound respect for Cody Rhodes for his ambition and courage to go a start AEW.
WWE internally has left the door slightly open for Cody Rhodes if he would ever wish to come back and WrestleMania 38 weekend has been mentioned as a possible return appearance/match for Cody Rhodes.
The stage is now set for a wild road to WrestleMania 38 as so many different scenarios could happen with Cody Rhodes. Stay tuned to Slice Wrestling for the latest updates.
