Cody Rhodes challenged for the AEW World Title at AEW Full Gear 2019 against Chris Jericho. Ahead of the bout, Rhodes declared that if he couldn't defeat Jericho and win the title, he would never challenge for the AEW World Title again.
Rhodes lost to Jericho after he was turned on by MJF.
As one of four Executive Vice Presidents in the AEW at the time, Rhodes used his behind the scenes role to influence an on-screen decision.
After his return to WWE, Rhodes said that he wasn't mature enough to take on the EVP role in AEW and that he didn't think he wanted a management job in wrestling ever again.
Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Rhodes elaborated on his comments.
"Immature enough is what I said in the moment and I think more I meant, that role, I did well with it and I was very active and I did start the community department and Brandi did bring Kulture City into the wrestling and sports entertainment space. We were very active in terms of all the facts and assets of that gig, but I think that job was meant maybe for...we wanted a wrestling company brought to you by wrestlers, for sure, that was a huge part of the mission, but maybe it would have been better served for me at age 45 than it did at age 33. I am just now entering the prime of my career. To make political decisions like boxing myself out of winning a World Championship, those decisions, in hindsight, were not the correct decisions in what I should have been doing. I'm the best wrestler in the world, I can tell you that without it sounding braggadocious, simply because it's all I do. I train to do it, I live and breathe it, I have a school here with four rings, I treat this like an athlete in the NFL would treat a game," said Cody.
Rhodes continued by saying, "With that in mind, I needed to go and be that, and I wanted to be both. It was too difficult and that's where I didn't have the maturity to balance it. It wasn't a matter of being one of the boys vs. not because I'm no longer just one of the boys, I love it and wish I could be one, but I've been in this position before and been on the other side and in the production meetings and part of the technical production, but I think it would have served me better later in life when I could look at a show and be like, 'I don't want to be in the top spot.' You need that good competition in your locker room, that positive and real competition, if I can't be the best wrestler in the world on television because I'm afraid I'm going to offend colleagues because I'm also their boss, that was the situation we were in, and I just played it in the middle. There was only so much of playing it in the middle I could do and now I'm not in charge of anything, other than me and being a pro wrestler. I say I'm the best wrestler in the world, I felt like it for years, now we're in a situation where I do have to be careful of how I say it because I'm not carrying the belt."
Cody said that Roman Reigns is currently recognized as the best because he is the reigning Undisputed WWE Universal World Champion.
Cody has made it clear that his goal in WWE is to win the Undisputed WWE Universal World Title and accomplish something that his dad, Dusty Rhodes, could not do.
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