Cody Rhodes has officially returned to WWE, leaving AEW President Tony Khan and the rest of the company to focus on the path forward without him.
Rhodes, a former AEW Executive Vice President, left AEW in February. After over a month of rumors and speculation, “The American Nightmare” made his grand return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 on April 2. He has signed a multi-year deal with the promotion, officially ending his time with AEW for the foreseeable future.
In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Khan discussed Rhodes’ WWE return and noted that it marked the loss of a noteworthy free agent. But he made it clear that AEW is moving forward, and he’s excited about the remarkable additions he’s made to the company in recent weeks, such as Jeff Hardy, Toni Storm, and Samoa Joe.
“I did lose a very prominent free agent,” Khan said. “But we’re debuting one tonight in Samoa Joe. In the past 30 days, we’ve also debuted Toni Storm, who was incredible last week in her win against The Bunny, and Jeff Hardy, one of the biggest stars in wrestling. We have a lot of excitement happening here, and that’s our focus.”
The show must go on, and Khan hopes the first episode of AEW Dynamite after Rhodes’ appearance at WrestleMania will deliver a card that feels worthy of a pay-per-view.
“My goal is to make tonight like a pay-per-view,” Khan said. “It’s a bigger box office than the card we just had on the Ring of Honor Supercard pay-per-view. This is the Young Bucks–FTR, Adam Cole against Christian, and the Hardys in a table match. We’re going to deliver big matches. It’s a commitment to pro wrestling you won’t see anywhere else but AEW.”
Khan previously discusses Rhodes’ AEW exit; he stated that he wished to reach a longer agreement with the former AEW TNT Champion. His comments are available here.
The card for the April 6 episode of AEW Dynamite is as follows:
- Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier: Samoa Joe vs. Max Caster
- Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier: Hikaru Shida vs. Julia Hart
- ROH & AAA Tag Team Championships: FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
- Tables Match: The Hardys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) vs. Butcher & Blade
- Adam Cole vs. Christian Cage
- Women’s Owen Hart Tournament Qualifying Match
WrestleZone will have coverage of the show as it airs.
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