Tony Khan discusses Cody Rhodes' departure from All Elite Wrestling.
The wrestling world has been turned on its head multiple times in 2022, but one of the first shocking moments of the year came on February 15, when Cody Rhodes announced that he was leaving AEW. Rhodes, alongside The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks), was considered to be a founding father of the company and was often featured in top programs on both AEW Dynamite and Rampage.
Rhodes went on to return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 as Seth Rollins' mystery opponent. Although Rhodes is currently out of action due to a pec injury, fans have been speculating that 'The American Nightmare' could be making his return sooner rather than later.
In a new interview with Grapsody, Tony Khan recalled losing Rhodes earlier this year and went into detail on how it affected AEW.
"It was, certainly, whenever you lose a star the caliber of Cody Rhodes, it’s going to have a major impact on your company and affect a number of different departments and number of different things in terms of the presentation and the backstage. Personally, I really like Cody and I know Cody really well and he was so involved in so many different facets with the start of AEW and what we were. When he left, that was a major challenge. Going into Revolution, we had so many great stories and I think it helped us and helped keep us strong that people were so invested in what was happening in AEW at the time."
Rhodes has went on record multiple times and stated that his departure from the company had nothing to do with money or creative.
Recently, Fightful Select revealed that Rhodes attended a recent WWE/2K commercial shoot. To learn more, click here.
Elsewhere in the interview, Tony Khan gave some more insight into AEW's new presentation that will be debuted in 2023. For more info, click here.
