What If... Cody Rhodes Stayed in AEW?

[Stone Cold Eleanor Shellstrop]

Just because of everything that's been going on in WWE over the past 2 weeks, I had a thought:

What if Cody Rhodes stayed in AEW instead of going to WWE?

Would he have eventually turned heel?

Would he have won the AEW title?

Would the All Out Fallout with CM Punk still have happened?

What matches would you have wanted to see?

[The anti-ratings Luddite]

Feb 4, 2024 20:46:35 GMT -5 Stone Cold Eleanor Shellstrop said:

Just because of everything that's been going on in WWE over the past 2 weeks, I had a thought:

What if Cody Rhodes stayed in AEW instead of going to WWE?

Would he have eventually turned heel?

Would he have won the AEW title?

Would the All Out Fallout with CM Punk still have happened?

What matches would you have wanted to see?

Cody was fighting going heel like he'd die if he had to turn, and I genuinely think he had this creative plan mapped out for himself where he'd get so over, be such a de-facto lead babyface, that the crowd support would demand that he challenge for the title despite the stipulation. 

I feel for Cody in the WWE and what's been going on with his booking, I do, but Cody ALSO acted like a stubborn ass who refused to go along with what the crowd wanted. 

[Natural Born Farmer]

He definitely booked himself into some corners in AEW. I don't think the company was happy with where he was going, and I don't think he was happy with the reactions he was getting.

Maybe if he'd taken some time off, or tried a radical new direction he could've course corrected and become the focal point he clearly wanted to be, but I don't know.

Even with all the recent shenanigans, I think jumping back to WWE was the right move, both for himself and AEW.

[thegatewaydrug]

[bearned]

It’s always going to be fascinating to look back at how the AEW crowd turned on him so much, whilst the same over dramatic suit wearing super face character is over like a god in WWE. Especially because the AEW crowd usually is pretty good at playing along with story stuff. Maybe it was his stubborn refusal to turn that just made everyone mad when it made the most sense.

[Dub H]

He would very likely need to turn heel.

[Fake Jesus]

Feb 4, 2024 22:10:18 GMT -5 bearned said:

It’s always going to be fascinating to look back at how the AEW crowd turned on him so much, whilst the same over dramatic suit wearing super face character is over like a god in WWE. Especially because the AEW crowd usually is pretty good at playing along with story stuff. Maybe it was his stubborn refusal to turn that just made everyone mad when it made the most sense.

the issue wasn't the character, it's that the way he booked himself was f***ing trash and he repeatedly burned his heat away on fiends like QT Marshall and Anthony Ogogo. WWE has never let him solve racism

[Ecks Ecks Ringout Ecks Ecks]

Setting aside the recent shitty booking decisions, at the end of the day, I think his approach to wrestling and storytelling are a better fit for WWE and their traditions, with a fanbase much more receptive to it.

Not that there's anything wrong with promotions offering a little of everything. I've definitely enjoyed a number of high-drama AEW matches and angles that could be called "WWE style". But Cody's AEW stuff turned into such a bizarre little bubble, utterly disconnected from everything else, leading to all the Codyverse jokes. It probably could work with better execution, but it's definitely easier for him to do his thing in WWE.

[Mozenrath]

I think he probably would have ended up having some level of interaction with Darby and Sting. He had a longstanding feud/rivalry with Darby that established mutual respect, with both actually complimenting each other often in promos, but just expressing frustration, Darby with his inability (at first) to get one over on him after their initial draw, and Cody saying how the network loved Darby and that Darby needed to accept the spotlight. Sting had explicitly stated that he was not there to talk to Cody "right now" in a way that suggested it would have eventually amounted to something, but that opportunity never came, clearly. They also seemed to be trying to lay some groundwork of various legends expressing frustration with Cody, but again, nothing really came of it. Presumably, it would have, eventually.

I do think him walking worked out for both parties, but it had a lot of knock-on effects. I do think him leaving negatively impacted Sammy Guevara, Fuego Del Sol, and other people he had a mentorship with. I also think that, in addition to a probable heel turn, he would have likely been goaded into breaking his voluntary exile from the world title scene, especially if CM Punk melted down in the way that he probably invariably was going to. If not that, then MJF would have eventually demanded he face him, probably after having been embarrassed by Cody in some fashion as to desire the match himself.

Of course, that brings up another point. He's hurt right now, but MJF will be back, and he's become something very special for AEW. How much of that still happens with Cody around is hard to say, since while obviously Cody was very instrumental in MJF's rise, and MJF absolutely, positively adores the man and considers him a true friend and mentor, MJF's rise has also depended on a lot of variables that could not have been easily predicted. How many of them still happen with Cody's steadying influence is difficult to conceptualize.

[Mozenrath]

Feb 4, 2024 22:20:35 GMT -5 Ecks Ecks Ringout Ecks Ecks said:

Setting aside the recent shitty booking decisions, at the end of the day, I think his approach to wrestling and storytelling are a better fit for WWE and their traditions, with a fanbase much more receptive to it.

Not that there's anything wrong with promotions offering a little of everything. I've definitely enjoyed a number of high-drama AEW matches and angles that could be called "WWE style". But Cody's AEW stuff turned into such a bizarre little bubble, utterly disconnected from everything else, leading to all the Codyverse jokes. It probably could work with better execution, but it's definitely easier for him to do his thing in WWE.

I don't know that I entirely agree with this, given how big a part of AEW's early identity he was. The Dark Order feud was an enormous example of that, but go back to even the first AEW show. AEW was going to be a big deal regardless, it kind of had to be, but remember how big of a deal Cody vs Dustin wound up being, with the blood and melodrama and "my brother!" promo. He brought old school in with the new school, and that blend set a unique tone versus some other challengers to the WWE monopoly in the past.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Well he would have been able to go for more belts, even the ROH ones, and likely would have, if he still never went for the main world title.

He would have desperately needed to get out of the CODYVERSE though, it was destroying him.

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

Would've had to turn heel and likely win the title by saying something like I lied or take it back. Whole different circumstances and actually really weird to look back on.

[Cyno]

Outside of the current stupidity, he's a way better fit with WWE. And with someone else having the book. The whole "I won't ever challenge for the AEW World Championship" booked him into a huge corner, and the crowds were turning on him in a way they haven't in WWE.

Didn't help that he was often the first feud for a bunch of newer and debuting talent and he'd beat them. So he was much more of a gatekeeper (which gets more negative reactions especially against someone popular on debut like a Malakai Black) than plucky underdog face.

And then there was Brandi, who further dragged him down. And it threw a wrench into the whole "I'm really just trying to be a pure babyface" thing when she was doing blatantly heelish things while accompanying him.

I really like Cody in WWE and he's like the best pure babyface they've had in ages. But I don't miss him and I especially don't miss the Codyverse in AEW.

[Chiral]

Cody was a lot more insufferable in AEW at times, he'd get these constant melodramatic beatdowns that lasted 10 minutes, he won too much, too much of the show focused on him in his weird Codyverse bubble, his promos were legit incoherent by the end of his run.

If he just turned heel for like a year (say, he turns heel and beats Hangman, going back on his no championship shot because he feels like he needed to "save" AEW from Hanger as the start of a big angle that ends similarly to the Omega/Hangman saga) they probably would've softened by the end of the angle. But after he left it became clear his deranged "a face that maybe is turning heel (but not really)" character just made no sense and wasn't actually a brilliant masterstroke of a slowburn turn to a heel that thinks he's a beloved face and had no longterm plan.

[J. Hova]

As others have stated, he booked himself into so many corners, the room needed to be remodeled into a tesseract.

After AEW bought ROH, maybe he could have done a belt collector gimmick and agreed to give them all up for a shot at the AEW world title. If there is one thing that would have to be done if he was going to remain a face, Brandi had to stay off TV.

[Some Guy]

If nothing else, even the absolute worst of the Codyverse stuff that was going on is a considerable improvement over every single thing Jericho has been doing for the last 13 months, so I'd take that part if we could swap them out.

[kingoftheindies]

Tough to say, I think with how over he's gotten in WWE it's easy to forget just how bad things got on screen for him in AEW. Like legit he needed to turn heel and was refusing.

I think the company missed him with PR for sure though

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Feb 5, 2024 0:13:29 GMT -5 Some Guy said:

If nothing else, even the absolute worst of the Codyverse stuff that was going on is a considerable improvement over every single thing Jericho has been doing for the last 13 months, so I'd take that part if we could swap them out.

I dunno Cody's shit drug on for a very long time...

I'm still gonna hang my hat that Jericho's stuff still doesn't hold a candle to the American Top Team feud with Guevara, Scorpio and... Kaz, for some reason. That shit felt like it went on for three years.

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

Feb 5, 2024 0:20:25 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

Feb 5, 2024 0:13:29 GMT -5 Some Guy said:

If nothing else, even the absolute worst of the Codyverse stuff that was going on is a considerable improvement over every single thing Jericho has been doing for the last 13 months, so I'd take that part if we could swap them out.

I dunno Cody's shit drug on for a very long time...

I'm still gonna hang my hat that Jericho's stuff still doesn't hold a candle to the American Top Team feud with Guevara, Scorpio and... Kaz, for some reason. That shit felt like it went on for three years.

That’s a hell of a thread idea if any of y’all want to take it though. I don’t know what I’d pick.

Jericho’s stuff has been mostly a dull pain but some of the Codyverse stuff was like watching someone get into an unbearably awkward moment on tv, one that is so bad you quickly turn the channel until you know it is done.

Jericho’s has felt longer and is ongoing but not as excruciatingly bad. I think I’d take him dressing up as clown bowie over some of the Codyverse shit that broke my brain. It is real close though.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Feb 5, 2024 0:54:39 GMT -5 UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm said:

Feb 5, 2024 0:20:25 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

I dunno Cody's shit drug on for a very long time...

I'm still gonna hang my hat that Jericho's stuff still doesn't hold a candle to the American Top Team feud with Guevara, Scorpio and... Kaz, for some reason. That shit felt like it went on for three years.

That’s a hell of a thread idea if any of y’all want to take it though. I don’t know what I’d pick.

Jericho’s stuff has been mostly a dull pain but some of the Codyverse stuff was like watching someone get into an unbearably awkward moment on tv, one that is so bad you quickly turn the channel until you know it is done.

Jericho’s has felt longer and is ongoing but not as excruciatingly bad. I think I’d take him dressing up as clown bowie over some of the Codyverse shit that broke my brain. It is real close though.

Yeah, Jericho's not done anything worse than tie up wrestlers I like for too long. Cody's stuff was actively painful and repellent to people I'd share a wrestling show with. Jericho's never done anything as mind-arrestingly awkward as the Arn Anderson gun promo, the racism promo, the weigh-in segment, the American Top Team feud...

Cody did give us the whipping segment, though, which stands out as both one of the most legitimately poignant and well-executed moments of babyface fire and one of the most hysterically horny wrestling segments ever.