Below are a couple of top AEW & WWE news stories of the day, featuring Cody Rhodes and Triple H.
• WWE Hall of Famer Bubba Ray Dudley believes AEW’s downfall began when Cody Rhodes left in early 2022.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, he called Rhodes’ departure the “first crack in the wall,” pointing to declining viewership and backstage drama since then:
“Cody leaving AEW was a major, major blow to that company. Cody leaving AEW is what started the downward trend. Go back and look at any number, any metric, any talk on social media. Cody is the first crack in the wall.”
He also criticized Tony Khan’s leadership, suggesting he should adopt Vince McMahon’s approach of not taking things personally.
• According to Sean Ross Sapp, WWE’s women aren’t happy with Triple H’s booking:
“Somebody asked about women’s booking, and I said, yes, I have spoken with plenty of women in WWE who are frustrated about the booking of the women. This is not a new thing.
It’s nowhere near Royal Rumble 2022-level. Royal Rumble 2022 was so bad that I developed sources because of how bad it was booked. This is nowhere near that but there has been a situation where a women’s WWE performer has reached out to me and said, ‘Dude, can you find out if I’m listed internally as a heel or babyface?’ And I’m like, ‘Damn, okay.’
I know there have been some Mania pitches that have been rejected because people are like token tag matches aren’t something that they want to do. They want things put on a more even plane in the women’s division.
Okay, well, the contracts are going up, viewership is adjusted accordingly for when women are on-screen. It’s not the sideshow or anything like that. It’s a part of the show. You’re adding more titles, add more matches, all that stuff.
There’s a lot of people that have been parked. For example, I’m not going to say Natalya is frustrated, they signed Natalya, they wanted to keep Natalya, they had creative plans for Natalya. And then what’s Natalya done since then? Hasn’t done anything, hasn’t been on NXT, hasn’t been doing anything.”
