Cody Rhodes knows that giving too good a grade to AEW's 2020 calendar year will come with some criticism. At the same time, he knows the promotion had a great year. To be fair, he's also pointed out a couple of places where the brand needs to improve.

In speaking with Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Rhodes gave the company a Grade of A before saying he knew there were places the roster needed some work. In particular, he noted that the talent may have too much freedom. It's an interesting comment considering that was one of the areas AEW was said to be so much better a place to work than WWE.

He noted that a positive can also be negative if not managed properly. He explained:

“We have such freedom. So such freedom, sometimes, means that things are too similar on the same show. Well, this guy’s asking me to join Team FTW. Well, this group, they’re asking if he’ll join in this. So that’s one of those areas where that freedom is fun and pro, they’re not worried about the traditional rules. It’s punk rock, but also, you have to be disciplined so that it doesn’t desensitize the show.”

Jericho made a similar critique of the show a few weeks back saying he wasn't sure how two identical segments could fall on one Dynamite episode right after the other. Jericho called it practically unforgivable, but part of the learning process.

Someone Needs to Run The Ship

The one area that WWE gets some credit for is that there is one man running the show. Fans don't always agree with how that one man sees the product, but the buck stops with Vince McMahon.

AEW might need to adopt a bit more of that thinking. If AEW is going to continue letting talent come up with all their own storylines, Rhodes added that communication between management and AEW stars needs improvement as well.

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