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At the beginning of 2022, AEW lost one of its founding fathers when Cody Rhodes decided to jump ship and rejoin WWE after six years. The American Nightmare recently sat down with Sam Roberts of Not Sam Wrestling and revealed some details of his final days in Tony Khan's promotion.
In what would be his final promo for AEW, Rhodes mentioned CM Punk's infamous pipe bomb promo from 2011. What very few were aware of is that The American Nightmare made sure to run the contents of his "exit interview" by The Second City Saint:
“That promo, I remember I mentioned it to Punk as well, 'Hey, I think I'm going to say this,' I'm not a fan of blindsiding anybody. Where we're terrible at is social media. 'My opponent just nuked me,' then you nuke him back. Alright, no trust and we're at the peak level of fervor.” [H/T: Fightful]
Given CM Punk's track record of rubbing more than a few of the AEW talent the wrong way, this may have been a smart move on the part of Rhodes.
Cody Rhodes reflects on his AEW "exit interview"
During Cody Rhode's final AEW promo, he touched on a number of real-life topics and masterfully mixed them into kayfabe storyline beats. Among these is the fact that fans desperately wanted The American Nightmare to turn heel, but he continuously refused, prompting even stronger reactions from the audience.
Rhodes himself has admitted that leaning into this anti-heel character was intentional, and he has also brought to life other sentiments he aimed to get across in this promo:
“I look at it now and I call it the 'exit interview.' Maybe, selfishly, egotistically, I wanted to remind them, 'I appreciate the company has changed, I do. Please know though, there is no company had these things not have happened.' Other things had to happen; [Chris] Jericho had to do his stuff, [Young] Bucks had to do their stuff, Kenny [Omega] had to do stuff, [Jon] Moxley had to do stuff, he's a big part of it too, I don't give him credit enough. I just wanted to let them know. The other part was sincerely, this is being a heel, saying you're not going to be a heel. It was just too meta."
Rhodes' final AEW match took place on January 26, 2022.
