Tony Khan Was Not A Fan Of Title Stipulation For Full Gear

[markymark]

Cody Rhodes' decision to forgo his ability to ever challenge for the AEW World Championship should he had lost to Chris Jericho at Full Gear surprised many and even didn't sit well with AEW President Tony Khan.




In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Cody explained why he made decision to never challenge for the title ever again. Cody revealed that he was solely responsible for making that decision and that Khan wasn't a fan of it. A reason for that is that he didn't want to have to deal with the critiques some may have thrown at him for being one of the people in charge of a wrestling compnay that he also wrestles and is a top star for.



"It was solely my decision. Tony was not a fan of it, but he understood why I wanted to do it. And I heard both sides of the argument. Right now, I’m in a spot with the fans that I’ve never been in before. I’ve never gotten reactions like this. I’ve never been as good as I am in the ring right now. You know, men’s wrestler prime is 35 [years old], that’s what everyone always says. I’m 34. So, I think I’m almost there. ... But also, I don’t want to face any of the criticisms or any of the asterisks that my dad [Dusty Rhodes] faced because they weren’t fair to his legacy," Cody said.



Further expanding on that point about his dad, Cody talked about how Dusty was criticized later on in his career and figured he would take an alternative approach to that. Despite no longer being able to challenge for the title, Cody said he was happy with the decision.



"When he was with [Jim Crockett Promotions], people talk about all that, he made everybody at Crockett rich. Him and Ric Flair were the top stars. When you’re the top stars, they’re what the people wanted to see. But they all received that criticism later on, the political aspect of it. I figured I would just take a different path. It’s not going to stop me from wrestling. It’s not going to stop me from even main-eventing if the match calls for it. But the title doesn’t belong to me. And unless the fans really wanted me to be champion, to wouldn’t belong to me. So right now, I’m happy with that decision," Cody said.

www.fightful.com/wrestling/cody-rhodes-says-tony-khan-was-not-fan-title-stipulation-aew-full-gear

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

It is interesting that Cody frames it in terms of Dusty even out of kayfabe - but I think we can all agree that Jeff Jarrett is the guy who truly ruined the idea of a booker or owner holding the title. AEW has done a lot of things to avoid the pitfalls TNA fell into, which makes it feel clear that this is more of a Jarrett issue...it would just be rude to say so.

[Dub H]

I can't say I disagree with Khan.

Cody was their most overt act and now he can't challenge.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

I think Cody not wanting to ever hold the title is silly. Like, your audience knows this is a performance and wants the best stories possible told. Now you've closed off the possibility of a great story being told.

Cody himself said he doesn't deal in absolutes on Dynamite, should've practiced what he was preaching.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

It's going to be fine. There are plenty of ways of building a match to remove the stipulation. I would say build to it in a year or so and there won't be any backlash for it if it makes sense in storyline.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Fortunately whenever he becomes a dick head heel he can just say he lied

But yeah I understand where he is coming from but he should take a step back a bit and listen to others when talking. He is doing fine, he has shown more restraint than Jarrett did

[Allie Kitsune]

Dec 9, 2019 14:45:48 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

It is interesting that Cody frames it in terms of Dusty even out of kayfabe - but I think we can all agree that Jeff Jarrett is the guy who truly ruined the idea of a booker or owner holding the title. AEW has done a lot of things to avoid the pitfalls TNA fell into, which makes it feel clear that this is more of a Jarrett issue...it would just be rude to say so.

I'd say that Nash did some damage there, too.

[Dub H]

Dec 9, 2019 14:45:48 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

It is interesting that Cody frames it in terms of Dusty even out of kayfabe - but I think we can all agree that Jeff Jarrett is the guy who truly ruined the idea of a booker or owner holding the title. AEW has done a lot of things to avoid the pitfalls TNA fell into, which makes it feel clear that this is more of a Jarrett issue...it would just be rude to say so.

To be fair you can blame Hogan on this too.

He was basically booker of WCW,at least when it came to himself.

[Cyno]

Hogan, Nash, Jarrett, and Triple H all did their fair share of making a booker/owner/someone in power having a world title run look like purely an ego trip.

[eJm]

To a lesser extent, Lawler and his 105,000 titles and politicizing did some stuff to that conception too. Not as much mainstream as other but still.

[Instant Classic]

I’d be shocked if Cody never wins the title. These types of stipulations are silly, but with the right story can be good.

[Macho Pichu]

Ultimately, there's nothing wrong with the guy with the book winning the title if the story was right. Using examples from this thread, Dusty won the title in great stories, Jarrett won it because he felt like having it, and Triple H has done both at different times.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Dec 9, 2019 17:39:56 GMT -5 eJm said:

To a lesser extent, Lawler and his 105,000 titles and politicizing did some stuff to that conception too. Not as much mainstream as other but still.

Hell, can even think of it outside a personal selfish way

He's not Fritz booking his sons to the top, in this case his friends getting favorable booking just because. 

[Yamashita Enforcement Division]

Dec 9, 2019 14:45:48 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

It is interesting that Cody frames it in terms of Dusty even out of kayfabe - but I think we can all agree that Jeff Jarrett is the guy who truly ruined the idea of a booker or owner holding the title. AEW has done a lot of things to avoid the pitfalls TNA fell into, which makes it feel clear that this is more of a Jarrett issue...it would just be rude to say so.

From what I understand of critical and commercial response to Dusty as both a booker and a top talent specifically late in his career, the idea was ruined well before Jeff Jarret leveraged a bad pay per view estimate into selling a company to an oil company's faildaughter.

[IgnahtaSempria]

I feel like this ties into the issue with Kenny and the Bucks' booking as well. They're all well aware that the moment they start booking themselves strongly, people are gonna cry "nepotism" and "vanity project". So they overcompensate by putting everyone else over, even if the audience wants to see them win.

[Deleted]

they'll weasel their way out of it

[lildude8218]

Okay like, cool if he doesn't want to be champion because he's a booker and it would look like he booked himself to win. However, don't position yourself as a viable challenger and buildup a whole story about winning the championship then.

[RareTradU]

I respect Cody's decision here. Without a doubt he's heard all the complaints from former wrestlers, fans, and bookers about Dusty booking himself at the top for his entire life. He doesn't want or need the title to be over. And if he did when the title he doesn't want it to be tainted with "you booked yourself over someone else". Now with that said, when Cody does decide to turn heel, him winning the title in a round about way will be a huge storyline and could be the biggest angle of his career. Cocky and smug AEW World Champion Cody would draw money with the right face to play off of.

[Viking Hall]

Dec 9, 2019 18:57:08 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

Okay like, cool if he doesn't want to be champion because he's a booker and it would look like he booked himself to win. However, don't position yourself as a viable challenger and buildup a whole story about winning the championship then.

But if you are also among the most popular acts in the company from a purely storyline perspective, it's a massive plot hole if he's constantly overlooked too. At least this way it's an (albeit slightly clumsy) way of getting it out of the way.

[Mozenrath]

I imagine it'll be overturned or loopholed eventually, since it's an arbitrary dead end, with him also having not submitted or been pinned, MJF threw the towel, and for rather blatantly self-serving reasons.

That said, it took guts to not put your probably most popular face in the role of champion, but I get his reasoning. (Like, Moxley's a tweener, and Orange and Luchasaurus are white-hot, but not believed in the same way as Cody)