Professional wrestling is unpredictable to say the least, but Cody Rhodes says that a certain photo of WWE’s past champions did a pretty good job at predicting the future.
AEW executive and TNT Champion Cody Rhodes recently appeared on FITE TV’s FITE In Focus and Rhodes would discuss the viral picture that’s been recently floating around the IWC, which shows all of the champions in WWE from 2011, many of which, are gone from the company, including ‘The Nightmare’ himself. Host Josh Shernoff noted that most of the people in the photo are in or have been in AEW at one point, but the photo served a special purpose and spoke to the talent of the people involved.
“If I start talking about that picture, I definitely will get emotional. That picture has been floating around the last few days and I know [Matt] Cardona put out a post about it and I didn’t, I chose not to. I’m pretty much off of social at this point but I chose not to, only because…I don’t know, in my heart, I didn’t want to cheapen that day. But I will never forget [CM] Punk getting everyone together in Philly, I know exactly where it was, over by catering and to take that picture for the reason of we didn’t know how long it would be that way and that was a really good call on his part.
“I do challenge people, I wish someone, maybe from WWE, if you’re out there, any of those photographers who we worked with, if anyone has the actual professional photo, I would love to see it because I just have the [cell phone quality] one that was tweeted afterward. Man, that picture was definitely, it could tell fortunes, there was something special about it.”
10 years ago…
I think a lot of people have seen the cell phone pic…I’ll go as far as saying that it has become an iconic wrestling photo.
But not many have seen this version!#StillHere pic.twitter.com/NEiRzVYVAQ
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) December 29, 2021
Cody Rhodes also discussed how much fun he’s having in seeing the process somewhat repeat itself now, and went on to praise the format of AEW Dark. Rhodes prefaced his comments by saying he didn’t want it to be misconstrued, but he loved what AEW was doing with new talent and explained how
“It’s very simple, we have to provide layers of content and Tony [Khan] has provided layers of content, you just named all the shows and that’s how you do it. [AEW] Dark for example, right now, Dark is the most fun thing on the planet. That’s, oh gosh, I’m gonna see that back in a clickbait and I’ve been so terrified of interviews [laughs] but I love it, the Universal Studios [location] that we’re filming at — if you’ve not been to a Dark taping, I really encourage you to go to one. Not only do you get to see two sessions, sometimes you only see one but you meet a lot of people, I went out and made my rounds, I’m pretty sure that I met every single fan in the place and I’m going to continue to do that if I’m wrestling or if I’m not, just because it’s this really, cool, unique studio show.
“You see a lot of the up-and-coming talent and they’re not hindered by the larger booking of big-time Dynamite, the hour long-length of Rampage, of the loaded aspect of a pay-per-view. They’re really able to kind of grow on this kind of preserve and learn and figure stuff out because there is an audience, a particularly hardcore audience. Some of the most fun I’ve had in wrestling was this most recent Dark session and I just sit there in the chair and pretend to do stuff [laughs], just having a good time. To see Tony, Tony loves wrestling, if you ever get the chance to just sit by him and watch wrestling, you can learn a lot by just watching him watch it.
“But yeah, Dark’s amazing, it gives some of the up-and-coming talent a chance to fly. [AEW Dark] Elevation’s amazing in the sense that [talent is] in front of our bigger crowds but they’re under some of the stress and duress of a live TV situation because its that hour-plus, right before we go on the air for Dynamite and that develops a whole different set of skills for a wrestler that they need. I’m sure you’ve seen from covering the sport, not everyone’s cut out for big-time TV wrestling.
“Some of our favorites, can’t fathom the time, can’t fathom the red light and commercial breaks, the [picture-in-picture], all this crazy stuff that makes being a TV wrestler a special trait. And that’s why you sometimes see the same TV wrestlers dominating, it’s because they’re able to do it. But I like that variety of content that we offer because I think it’s best for our roster. Elevation, Dark, Dynamite and Rampage and now a special, Battle of The Belts.”
If you use this transcript, credit FITE In Focus and h/t WrestleZone and link back to this post.
