On just the sixth episode ever of AEW Dynamite, Cody Rhodes declared that if he didn't beat Chris Jericho for the AEW World Title at AEW Full Gear 2019 that he would never challenge for the AEW Title again.
Cody Rhodes did not win the AEW World Title, and he never challenged for the title again during his AEW career.
"I had done two full storylines that I would say I completely oversaw," Cody recalled on The Flagrant. "One was with Chris Jericho for the championship. Chris collaborated with that, offered hugely to it, Tony (Khan) as well, but that was my 'Week one, week two, week three, week four.' I was terrified of winning the championship. There is this revisionist history; the last year, I was a bad guy, and they were booing me left and right. Those first two years, and especially those first two months, I was the hottest thing they had, and that was a great spot to be in, but my fear was, 'If I win the title, I'm abusing this. I'm the Executive Vice President.' My dad, who was the Executive Vice President and Producer of Jim Crockett Promotions, he had won the championship and the people loved it. Later, the industry journalists, that's something they looked at and would judge.
"I would say it was a huge mistake that I went that route. I was hot and the fans were happy. In my mind, I didn't want to do it, and we put ourselves in a situation where I could never challenge for it again. It's wrestling, you can go back on it, but I told them, 'Nope. This is a never go back on. I want to make it clear.' I wanted to make my stories as big as the world title, which is a problem in itself. You might as well be World Champion. That story was one I had good control on. I look back and said, 'Perhaps that decision was a mistake,' but my heart was in the place of where I didn't want fans thinking I was going to abuse this position. From a creative standpoint, it probably would have been fine. Once I was there, I didn't realize how much of a ceiling it would be for fans. 'I'll do these really great stories that just don't revolve around the title.' Wrestling, at the end of the day, sometimes it's not rocket science. It might just be about the title."
Though Cody never challenged for the AEW World Title again, he did win the AEW TNT Championship multiple times.
Elsewhere during the interview, Cody talked about his lack of a plan after leaving AEW in February 2022. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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