Cody Rhodes is going to leave the writing to the wrestlers in AEW.
Speaking to SEScoops, Cody revealed that wrestlers in AEW would not be micro-managed like they are in other companies. Instead, AEW will give wrestlers more freedom to "play their own music" when they step through the curtain at AEW.
“There’s plenty of young, fresh independent talent out there that probably can use guidance and things of that nature, but there’s also plenty of folks on board already that I wouldn’t dare try to tell them how to play ‘their own music,"’ said Cody. If I am licensing you and I am paying you, then I already know what you can do. These are your songs and I want you to go out there and play them. Obviously, there’s a side that this is a collaborative effort and we do need to have an end goal. That used to always be a thing in wrestling – what is the finish? I don’t mean the match, I mean, the finish to the angle, the finish to the quarter or the year. What is our goal?”
Cody continued, “When you have like-minded super-professionals like Matt and Nick, like Hangman Page, when you have likeminded super-professionals, it’s fun to see how everyone works for that common goal. Again, the wrestling I grew up on. We’re talking bullet points, we’re talking an overall knowledge of the business, and hey, let them go out and play. Take a look back at the wrestling you and I love. For the most part, they’re all grown men and women doing what they were hired to do. They’ve cut their teeth, they’ve paid their dues and now they’re going to go out there and play their music. I would very much like a presentation that mirrors that. We don’t need to micro-manage and we certainly don’t need to script a great deal of the product we’re planning.”
At All In, Cody collaborated with the Young Bucks when it came to decisions. The trio revealed that they did not make a decision unless it was unanimously decided upon. It worked for All In but using that formula for one event as opposed to multiple events and potentially weekly television is a different beast.
When asked if AEW would hire writers to help with the process, Cody balked at the suggestion.
“This is probably going to be an unpopular thing to say, but I will say it. There won’t be a writer hired for All Elite Wrestling any time soon," he stated. "Because wrestlers are the writers. We’re the writers. Like I said with guys going out there and playing their own music, believe me – the day comes that I see ‘this is something we can really benefit from’ – absolutely, but I knew 40 writers in WWE and about 4 of them actually did anything. The reason I remember them and value them, they helped produce pre-tapes, they were team players, so right now that’s one thing we’ve gotten a lot of questions about. We’re keeping it very in-house for now.”
While they may not be hiring writers, the company has hired Billy Gunn and BJ Whitmer to work as backstage producers.
In the same interview, Cody discussed the potential of AEW using win/loss records and rankings. You can view his comments on the subject here.
