Cody Rhodes knows people love a surprise, but the AEW product is something unique where they don’t always need to rely on one each week.
Cody sat down with Wrestlezone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard ahead of the AEW Dynamite taping in Philadelphia this week and ‘The American Nightmare’ was asked if there are any surprises he’d like to do that aren’t just roster additions, and maybe something associated with production. It was noted that fans were excited for Jake Hager’s arrival, but AEW is looking at keeping an emphasis on the current roster.
“You can only do that for so long, and to the effect that you can do it. Sometimes it’s a big effect, and other times it was a little ripple cameo, if that makes sense. I don’t ever want to—I really want to put an emphasis on the roster we have. We would be doing them a disservice.” Cody said. “The biggest surprise we could possibly do in the business, [people saying] ‘Oh, he’s with them, she’s with them’—I still need to put a focus on Private Party, Jungle Boy Jack Perry, Kip Sabian, people of that nature. I have felt, and this isn’t talking poorly about WWE, but I felt like my generation of guys who came from that OVW 2007-ish period, we were never able to have those characters and dedicated character spotlights.
It takes time, and my Dad would tell you, it takes a year for anyone to even get remotely over. He would always talk about these project guys he had. I know that people love a surprise,” Cody noted, “but I also know that our product is something that people want to see, that sports-centric wrestling, so we don’t always need to count on a surprise.”
This week’s AEW Dynamite show marked the first time that The Elite had been back in Philadelphia since their Ring Of Honor farewell in December 2018, where they were brutally attacked by Bully Ray, Silas Young and The Briscoes. Cody expressed excitement over coming back to the city and cited the World Heavyweight Championship Money In The Bank contract match at the 2013 edition of the pay-per-view as his favorite match for a variety of reasons.
“My best match, or people ask me my favorite match, it happened [at the Wells Fargo Center] in Philly. It was Money In The Bank, all bad guys, the ‘Losers Club’ Money In The Bank starting the night, not ending. The story of the match was about me losing and Damien Sandow winning. But they chose me because they thought the crowd would organically get behind it. It was a whole group of guys working together,” Cody said, “and a risky call because had they not gotten behind it, we would have had a very flat situation. But man, Philly, we had lightning in a bottle. I show that match, when you get selfish and egotistical and you’re like ‘hey’ and watch it—it’s my favorite match. It’s not the loudest a crowd ever was for me, it’s not the most they bit on something, it just was totally organic. That’s the most beautiful thing in wrestling, when it’s real. And that was such a real, special moment.”
Cody noted that he could see the Liacouras Center being a regular home building for AEW, and referred to Philadelphia as “a good test, and a good time.” Cody called back to the ROH sendoff, where he and Nick Jackson were crawling backstage after getting beaten up, but they told each other that they couldn’t wait to come back to town.
