The many sins of Cody Rhodes

[69MeDon]

9 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I've heard stories of Tony Khan literally showing Cody the breakdown of the ratings between Cody segments and Punk segments and saying, "this is why you don't make CM Punk money".

Wait, really? That is hilarious.

"Listen, TK, I really feel in my gut that I'm worth what CM Punk is worth".

"Not to second guess your gut, Codes, but look at this empirical evidence demonstrating that you absolutely are not".

[Factotum]

Problem with Cody was he just didn't turn heel. Heel Cody as the 'I made this company' guy would have been superb. His inability to go with it was barmy. He could have had so many great feuds with the guys who came in. His whole act is a heel. His entrance is a heel, his attire, his music. And its top. But he seems unable to grasp it (and its weird as he seems an intelligent fella)

WWE can play him as a face for the moment as he's made the jump. But after a few months, the same issues will arise.

 

[Your Fight Site]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

when [Cody] wanted to renegotiate his contract, he was asking for the same money as CM Punk. I've heard stories of Tony Khan literally showing Cody the breakdown of the ratings between Cody segments and Punk segments and saying, "this is why you don't make CM Punk money".

My lord. If that did happen, then I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall just to see Cody’s face.

[BomberPat]

I imagine it probably wasn't as blunt as "this why you don't make CM Punk money", but I 100% believe that Tony got the spreadsheet out and made that argument, he's a stats nerd and that informs a lot of how AEW TV is booked.

[Factotum]

4 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I imagine it probably wasn't as blunt as "this why you don't make CM Punk money", but I 100% believe that Tony got the spreadsheet out and made that argument, he's a stats nerd and that informs a lot of how AEW TV is booked.

I assume he was probably trying to get him to turn heel and was maybe using actual facts to sell it to Cody.

[Carbomb]

If he finally does listen to people instead of trying to get his own way, he's got an absolutely perfect premise for when he does go back to AEW to be a really hated heel.

[The King Of Swing]

20 hours ago, 69MeDon said:

1. He said he and Dan Lambert had similar ideas about what a wrestling product should be like and "AEW wasn't doing much of that". I'm wondering what that means. Extra misogynistic "burns" like "you're a slag lol"?

More likely stuff like the "beat up a foreigner" storyline. 

Treating women like shit is as old school as it gets. 

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

On 4/5/2022 at 7:49 PM, BomberPat said:

Cody leaving AEW came down to money and creative control - he'd had a lot of the latter taken away when Tony Khan became more heavily involved, and when he wanted to renegotiate his contract, he was asking for the same money as CM Punk. I've heard stories of Tony Khan literally showing Cody the breakdown of the ratings between Cody segments and Punk segments and saying, "this is why you don't make CM Punk money". 

If true, I wonder if this is why he suddenly pulled that ridiculous CM Punk promo out of his where he moaned "I'm the real game changer" as some odd ball way to build a fued for someone else entirely.

But yeah... Cody heel turn was the biggest missed opportunity ever. The CM Punk / Cody fued practically wrote itself.

Punk: "Dude. You're the world's biggest hypocrite. You're smashing Triple H thrones but promoting yourself over other much more deserving talent. You give yourself the biggest pyro, you have a whole segment to announce your wife is pregnant, you're using AEW as a platform to promote shitty reality shows and you always position yourself to have a featured spot on shows at the expense of others. Dick off."

Cody: *Hits him with a golden shovel and tries to bury him alive the following week.*
 

[Jonny Vegas]

On 4/4/2022 at 11:11 PM, garynysmon said:

There's a part of me that still wonders, once the dust settles, if he'll find it hard to adjust to simply being a bog standard talent after being used to being an EVP elsewhere. 

Its ok at the moment I'm sure, the excitement and hoopla of Wrestlemania etc, but give it a few months and reality bites...

I mean, the AEW hyperbole is nauseating at the best of times, but too many wrestlers have spoken of their relief at leaving the WWE shark tank to make it pretty clear that the working environment isn't ideal.

My opinion is that he seemed a big deal in AEW particularly at the start because he stood out from what else was there.

AEW is predominantly guys from Indy backgrounds other than Jericho then Christian, Sting and the Hardy's who have all came in later.

He seemed like a megastar to begin within because he was a relatively young guy, in his prime, promoting himself as a huge deal and being portrayed as one. 

I think if Vince decides he's getting the World Title then maybe theres a chance of him keeping up his momentum.

However if it dawns on him that giving a guy who's reinvented himself in AEW the World Title whilst he uses his AEW theme, look and character where he was almost entirely around their secondary title might actually give off a different impression that he would want it to and decides not to then I struggle to see any way he isn't totally lost in the shuffle and trading 50/50 wins with whoever is IC champ by Summerslam.

He is the most generic WWE guy going and is going to need a lot of work to stand out or feel special amongst the multitude of generic WWE guys they already have there in my opinion.

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

5 hours ago, Jonny Vegas said:

I think if Vince decides he's getting the World Title then maybe theres a chance of him keeping up his momentum.

I reckon keep up that "big deal" aspect till Summerslam then have him lose to Roman Reigns. 

Then give him the IC belt and send him home.

[Factotum]

It is rather odd that WWE are promoting Cody so much given it seems like 'Oh this mega star was on the other brand' Its very un Vince, and I imagine he's doing it to be petty (fair play) but eventually as someone mentioned, it will be 'hold on, fuck this guy, change his music and have him lose to Owens'

[Lorne Malvo]

WWE have seen a shitload of their talent get released, then go to AEW revitalised, or have had talent flat-out refuse to sign a new contract so they can jump ship to AEW. It's no surprise at all that they would treat Cody as a big star for the first couple of months, so maybe in time a few of the more disgruntled AEW talent might start to think the grass is greener on the other side.

It's a completely different situation to bringing in a DDP or Sting to shit on them after the competition has already died.

[Duke]

He's also (now) exactly what Vince wants from his performers. He has a brilliant look, tattoo aside, he's a legacy (no pun intended), he's got a great promo in him in the right circumstances, he's consistent (in unspectacular) in the ring and he's extremely marketable. He didn't have this so much before he left (although he did have that amazing tag run with Dustin) but he's worked on his skills and in particular his presentation and now he looks the business. Hell, he probably reminds Vince of himself in his 30s, especially since he struck out on his own and made something of himself. 

As long as he keeps the audience of one happy, he could be one of the faces of the company. Maybe he'll be like Cena and take that ball and use it to massively improve. Maybe he'll be like Miz and be pointless and terrible. He might thrive with an editor, who knows?

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, Duke said:

He's also (now) exactly what Vince wants from his performers. He has a brilliant look, tattoo aside, he's a legacy (no pun intended), he's got a great promo in him in the right circumstances, he's consistent (in unspectacular) in the ring and he's extremely marketable.

I was thinking this as well. From the outside, it's been clear that WWE have been treating most of their home-grown talent as lesser than the 'stars'. This is why this latest Wrestlemania (as an event rather than promotion) was built around Stone Cold coming back, Vince McMahon coming back, the Jackass guys, Logan Paul, Ronda Rousey, etc. They're constantly struggling to get behind their own guys outside of a Roman Reigns or a Brock Lesnar.

By going away, and doing what he's done, particularly in terms of presentation, it seems they now regard him as a star in a way they never would have if he'd been around the entire time.

It's paying off, at least in the short-term. Not going to suggest Google Trends are everything, but more people were searching for Cody over Wrestlemania than searched for CM Punk during his return his return or John Cena when Suicide Squad came out.

In terms of generating interest this week, Cody's been huge. Absolutely huge.

If these trends continue, ayyyyy.

[Tommy!]

On 4/5/2022 at 10:49 AM, BomberPat said:

The impetus for him leaving WWE was always to prove that he could be a bigger asset to them than they realised, and that's where we're at now. He was right, about that at least

Has he? I was of the understanding he was a mid carder, left and was a big fish in a small pond until he settled back into the mid card when real stars rocked up and the novelty wore off. He's now left and is a big deal on the expectation he'll settle back into the mid card when the novelty wares off.