Cody Rhodes has shared the reasoning behind his lack of a desire to become AEW World Champion, having claimed that he won't be challenging for the belt anymore.
The former WWE performer was one of the most instrumental persons involved in bringing AEW to the fore and is the company's executive vice president. Apparently, that's why he wants to be out of the picture for said title as he doesn't want to face the criticism his late father, Dusty Rhodes, did.
Rhodes featured in an interview with DallasNews.com recently and touched on various subjects, including why AEW isn't hosting Live Events. He would also discuss his brother Dustin Rhodes' role in the promotion, revealing that the veteran is doing more coaching than he does wrestling nowadays.
As for his lack of interest in the AEW World Championship, Cody revealed that the decision to step away from the conversation was completely his.
Dusty Rhodes was the top star at Jim Crocket Promotions while he was also in charge of booking, so of course, fans thought it to be a form of nepotism on his part. Given that Cody's actually a company exec, he doesn't want to go down the same road, although he doesn't think the criticism his dad received was fair or deserved.
The 34-year-old was previously No.1 contender for the belt and challenged Chris Jericho at Full Gear last month but had announced that he would not be looking to win the belt a second time if he lost, which he did.
“It was solely my decision. Tony was not a fan of it, but he understood why I wanted to do it," Rhodes explained. "And I heard both sides of the argument. I don’t want to face any of the criticisms or any of the asterisks that my dad [Dusty Rhodes] faced because they weren’t fair to his legacy.
“When he was with [Jim Crockett Promotions], he made everybody at Crockett rich. Him and Ric Flair were the top stars. When you’re the top stars, they’re what the people wanted to see. But they all received that criticism later on, the political aspect of it. I figured I would just take a different path.”
A Neat Gesture
This is all quite noble from Cody and, if he sticks to what he said, it will go down as a great gesture. AEW will continue to bring in young, never-before-heard-of talent as it continues to grow and they will need to continue to provide opportunities.
Cody has won major accolades during his time with WWE, NJPW and ROH and doesn't really need one from AEW to enhance his CV, so it's a great decision on his part.
He will probably get slammed over many other things over the next few months, at least nepotism won't be one of them.
Source: Sescoops.com