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With AEW Dynamite less than a week away, Cody Rhodes and the rest of the Elite crew are gearing up for their debut show. Wrestling fans are anticipating their every move and wondering about what surprises might come to fruition on TNT's debut episode. It makes sense then that the the EVP himself, Cody Rhodes, and his wife Brandi would be on a media blitz to hype up AEW Dynamite's debut.
On Collider Live, Cody and Brandi Rhodes spoke about the upcoming debut and were more than happy to answer all questions. Everything from NXT, CM Punk, and the XFL were addressed. Their answers were quite revealing.
During the conversations between Cody, Brandi Rhodes, and the rest of the Collider crew, several interesting things popped up that weren't previously known to the greater wrestling community. Here are 5 backstage secrets Cody Rhodes revealed about AEW on Collider Live.
#5 Shawn Spears' chair shot led to a ban
As many wrestling fans may remember, Shawn Spears began his feud with Cody Rhodes when he hit him with a devastating chair shot at AEW Fyter Fest. As witnessed by those in attendance, as well as the viewers at home, Cody Rhodes dropped to the mat and bled out all over the canvas. This was an unprotected chair shot to the head and it was quite obvious that no blood was meant to be spilled.
Cody Rhodes spoke on this incident in detail during his interview.
"The lip got me.The lip of the chair. And Tony put out a statement properly as he did. We went to great pains to "take back" chair shots by soldering and ironing out the proper way to do it....and we just didn't get all of it."
Cody Rhodes said that he wanted to take chair shots back for wrestling, but it didn't work out as he had hoped. He also said that it was most likely the last head shot in AEW. This was a wise decision, as chair shots are simply too dangerous.
#4 Tony Khan's management style gave Cody Rhodes the confidence to start AEW
During the interview, Cody Rhodes revealed that there was skepticism about even talking to Tony Khan. Cody believed that growing up in the wrestling business gave him a sense of caution before he would even commit to taking on such an endeavor. According to Cody, his father Dusty Rhodes tried to start his own promotion and as a result, found himself 2-3 million dollars in debt.
It was actually Matt Jackson, who took Tony Khan's call, and felt that they could do it. Cody Rhodes spoke further on what made Tony Khan different from others who wanted to start their own wrestling promotion.
He said,
"He hosted us (him and Brandi Rhodes) at a Jags game and I got to watch him manage because he's a senior VP for the Jags in Jacksonville, and when you're managing and leading NFL athletes at the level he was, the way he was managing. I was just a fly on the wall...watching, so impressed with his management style. He was vetting us, but I was vetting him too in this moment."
Cody Rhodes also said that if he and the rest of the Golden Elite stuck together, they could keep each other (them and Tony) honest and responsible.
You watch the exchange at 2:00 in the video below
These comments speak volumes about the confidence Cody Rhodes has in Tony Khan and that he has the added advantage of his friends being involved in the promotion. It will be interesting to see how things pan out, but win or lose, the group is in it together.
#3 AEW didn't know Nyla Rose was transgender when they signed her
During the interview, the subject moved to the hiring of Nyla Rose. Some in the wrestling community were inferring that Nyla Rose was signed because of her gender and not for her wrestling ability. The Collider crew asked Cody and Brandi Rhodes as to how they came to sign her.
Brandi Rhodes shed light on the matter,
"When we hired Nyla Rose, we did not know she was transgender. We thought she was one of the best wrestlers we ever saw. That was that! It later was revealed to us that she was transgender and that's great."
She went on further to say that she found out about Rose through the internet and that she began receiving "Thank You" tweets from the LGBTQ community. While Brandi was overjoyed, she said that Nyla Rose was hired because she's a fantastic competitor.
Cody Rhodes also commented and said, "There was no attempt to check a box." What that means is that AEW was not pandering to any specific community, but rather picking the wrestler based on ability alone. With these revealed details about the Nyla Rose signing, it's quite clear that AEW believes in what the wrestler can bring to the table, rather than socio-political optics.
#2 Bret Hart appeared in AEW because of a simple phone call
The interview on Collider Live turned to how AEW was able to get Awesome Kong and Bret Hart to appear at Double or Nothing. In Awesome Kong's situation, it was simply due to an existing relationship between she and Brandi Rhodes.
Awesome Kong had helped train Brandi Rhodes at FCW. The initial plan was for Brandi to be her manager in WWE, but things never came to fruition. Brandi Rhodes simply reached out to her and she said yes.
Cody Rhodes spoke about how he was able to get Bret Hart to present the AEW championship at Double or Nothing and said,
"It was just a nice phone call, where I explained to him what we were doing and how it's not ...I didn't want to put anyone in a situation...Bret Hart is the excellence of execution. He's... a lot of the wrestlers on our roster are Bret Hart guys. He loves the familial aspect. My brother and I, being in the family, the busines, etc. I respect him so much."
Rhodes continued,
"It wasn't a difficult thing. He was really excited to be part of it and for us, the day went by so fast...that was the moment where I thought that this is a HUGE surprise. It was really validating. He rubbed up against us and he helped vindicate the company in a really strong way."
Cody Rhodes does hint that Bret Hart could appear in the future. Considering the company has used wrestling legends very well so far in AEW, it'll be interesting how they move forward.
#1 There will be no fake general managers or commissioners in AEW
For most wrestling shows on TV, there was always an on-screen authority figure. WWE used to do this with presidents and commissioners, as did WCW. This eventually morphed into the evil-owner routine with Vince McMahon and Erci Bischoff for WWE and WCW respectively. It is still being utilized today in WWE. Cody Rhodes said that won't happen in AEW.
When discussing the idea of having the titles matter and having the ranking system, Cody Rhodes spoke on the big fight feel aspect of AEW's presentation.
"The big fight feel, you can't just see it on commentary. It has to actually mean something.The really great thing that we're doing, we've only done the 4 shows, so the numbers are low in terms of records and stats, but we're going off those. And we're not going to give you a fake general manager or fake commissioner. It's very obvious who runs the company.If there's a big title match that needs to be made, Tony Khan is going to make that title match. He did it for Jericho and I."
You can watch the comments at 6:31 in the video below
AEW wants to make professional wrestling look and feel as real as possible. It makes sense in the long run and may help establish AEW as a force to be reckoned with heading forward.
