Should Cody Rhodes Actually Consider Wrestling Outside Of AEW?
One of the biggest parts of the legacy of Cody Rhodes with inevitably be the key role he played in founding AEW. Rhodes famously left WWE to strike out on his own. Upon the launch of AEW, it became difficult to fathom him wrestling elsewhere again. After all, Cody was not only a co-founder and executive vice president, but one of the early faces of the company. However, particularly after news broke that his AEW contract was up, the question emerged if it might be for the best for him to start wrestling elsewhere?
The AEW Fans Have Gone Cold On Cody Rhodes
Despite the AEW fan base overwhelmingly supporting the AEW product on the whole, a strange dynamic has emerged over the last couple of years. Despite Cody Rhodes being integrally connected to the AEW brand and playing a babyface, the response from live crowds and social media has been overwhelmingly negative.
There are a variety of reasons why fans haven’t loved the work Rhodes has offered on screen. There’s a narrative of him being a “try-hard.” The suggestion is that spots where he over-dramatically forces a rope break by biting down on the ropes or his flaming table bump with Andrade are contrived and too clearly making an effort to sell an impressive image of The American Nightmare to compensate for his limitations. There’s also the matter of his promo work. While Rhodes is undeniably a capable talker, he also has a tendency to ramble or for his content to be polarizing. Worse yet, there was incident when he cut an impassioned patriotic promo opposite Anthony Ogogo, and put himself over social media for arguably putting on the greatest promo in recent history. There was no shortage of dissenting opinions, but Rhodes himself pointing out how great his work was certainly didn't endear him to critics.
Related: 13 Reasons Why The Fans Boo Cody Rhodes
In addition to his work on screen not all landing, there’s also the issue of Rhodes being a management figure. Despite AEW’s popularity, wrestling fans are predisposed to boo management, on account of conditioning around heel authority figures and a more general tendency for contemporary social media to skewer people in power. Even though Rhodes drew great popularity for his role in launching AEW, he has nonetheless not escaped allegations of pushing himself too hard, or exercising the wrong kind of influence on the company.
Cody Rhodes Was Never More Popular Than When He Was On The Indies
One argument in favor of Cody Rhodes stepping through The Forbidden Door to work for other promotions is just how successful he was out on the independents before. Rhodes had an interesting journey through professional wrestling that included immediately signing with WWE as a developmental prospect and starting to work main roster matches at the young age of twenty-two. From there, he worked backwards to strike out and work for regional promotions, and on stages like ROH, Impact Wrestling, and New Japan.
Early in his time away from WWE, Rhodes posted to social media an image of a list opponents he hoped to work with, and it drew a very positive response from fans who recognized his love of wrestling itself, and his spirit of betting on himself. On top of that, he quite arguably had his best in ring performances in this stretch of his career. All of this suggests that Rhodes returning to smaller stages—whether or not that entails staying with AEW as well—could raise his stock and reinvigorate fan interest in him.
The Forbidden Door Has Momentum
There is no better time for a wrestler who is contractually able and willing to work across different promotions to step through The Forbidden Door. Crossing promotions has enormous momentum, due in no small part to the efforts of AEW itself, bringing in stars from Impact Wrestling and New Japan, not to mention fun, oddball appearances from talent like Nick Gage from surging GCW.
Big names appearing on smaller stages not only boosts the less established promotions and their talent, but also the major stars themselves of demonstrating their love of the business and willingness to step outside their comfort zone. Matt Cardona, in particular—the former Zack Ryder—is enjoying a career resurgence on this premise and the skill set and name value Cody Rhodes brings to the table make him an optimal choice to benefit from the very same dynamic.
In the end, crossing promotional lines can be messy from a contractual perspective, besides the sheer investment of time and effort, particularly for a new father like Cody Rhodes. Still, to win fans over and get the most out of his physical prime as a wrestler, it could make a great deal of sense for him work at least some matches on the independents or other alternative stages.
