Nick Aldis comments on WWE now acknowledging AEW on Friday's WWE SmackDown.
Ahead of their "I Quit" match at WWE Clash at the Castle, AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes met on the microphone on Friday's WWE SmackDown. During their exchange, AJ mentioned Cody's history in ROH, NJPW, and "the place he started," without directly naming AEW.
Speaking on The Gorilla Position, SmackDown GM Nick Aldis was asked about the decision to not mention AEW.
"I don't know, and I'm certainly not involved in the conversations at that level. I don't think it's anything nefarious, I think it's more of a thing of, 'They made it clear they're coming at WWE.' I personally think the war thing is silly, it's silly on their part. If you sort of liken it to geo-politics. If someone has declared war on you, it's not like you're going to throw their name around. They've certainly been hostile at times, and from the company's point of view, 'We don't want to poke the bear' necessarily. We're not looking for that. At the same time, it's interesting to be able to acknowledge that part of Cody's history. It's unavoidable with Cody because when he came back, he was the American Nightmare. He wasn't the same guy. To pretend he turned into this person in the middle of nowhere made no sense. In many ways, that's the greatest acknowledgement of AEW, is Cody being Cody. He crafted that persona and presentation. The fact that it was a major part of a major company being born and a place for people to go to work, it's a tremendous accomplishment and does no harm to WWE to acknowledge it," said Aldis.
Aldis and Cody famously fought at the original All In with Cody defeating Aldis to win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
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