• “I just didn’t want to be a gatekeeper” – Cody Rhodes On Why He Left AEW
During an interview with Steve Austin on Broken Skull Sessions, Cody Rhodes discussed his time in AEW and why he left the company he helped start.
Below is what The American Nightmare said:
“The bottom line was [AEW] was my baby…and it’s growing up and people are having fun and it doesn’t need me, if that makes any sense.
Why I thought it didn’t need me was…okay, I’m not being totally honest, maybe it did need me, but here’s what I needed. I didn’t want to be a gatekeeper wrestler, I did not want to be ‘oh, this is Cody’s thing, AEW,’ and some people look at it that way, not everybody does…’oh first program, they wrestle Cody Rhodes, then they do Chris’ [Jericho] podcast’ [laughs].
There’s a whole meme about it and I just didn’t want to be a gatekeeper, at the time we were getting these kind of, split reactions which was very fun and fun to experiment with because I had worked with [John] Cena on live events and to see how he did it and go ‘okay, alright’.
It takes a lot of discipline, I feel like to know when you can, kind of, give them a little something or when you got to stick to who you are and go, hey, you go do that, I’m going to stick to who I am.
I just didn’t want to be a gatekeeper and I’ll put it in the most simple of terms…it’s right there [points to the WWE Championship], that’s it. You have the Winged Eagle, which is the ultimate one but I grew up in the business wanting to be the WWE Champion, because it’s the one that got away, right?
We’ve spent a lot of time talking today about Dusty [Rhodes] and I can’t let that escape me, it’ll never escape me. The good, the bad, that’s Dusty, he was a massive person in our industry and I want to round it totally out. This one got away from you [Dusty], but I don’t want it to get away from me.”
Also Read: Cody Rhodes Comments On The Most Misused Term In Wrestling
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• ON THIS DAY IN WWF HISTORY (May 8, 1988) – WWF Wrestling Challenge
On this day in 1988, the World Wrestling Federation aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF Wrestling Challenge’.
It was broadcasted from the Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts and featured pre-taped matches, promos & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWF SummerSlam 1988’ PPV.
The card can be found right here:
– The British Bulldogs vs. Steve Lombardi & Randy Brian
– Brutus The Barber Beefcake vs. Danny Davis
– The Ultimate Warrior vs. El Conquistador
– Bad News Brown vs. Reno Riggins
– Jake The Snake Roberts Interview
– Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Hercules
– Demolition vs. Jerry Allen & Nelson Veilleux
