Cody Rhodes says AEW doesn't have a lot of red tape like WWE

A few years ago, if wrestling fans were told that the man once known as Stardust would eventually be leading a new wrestling promotion on TNT, they would have laughed at the very idea of it. It's mind-boggling to think how things can change so dramatically over a period of time.

Creating AEW was essentially based on the premise of a wrestling company run by wrestlers which included Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. And that essence has been retained even after the growth of the promotion.

During an interview with Yahoo Sports, Cody Rhodes said that AEW cuts out a lot of the bureaucracy that WWE has and that AEW's overall focus is fun. He explained:

"We don’t actively say, ‘Hey this is different, let’s do this,’ it’s more the personalities behind AEW — Tony Khan at the top, Matt, Nick, Kenny and myself — the personalities are just different and we are the ones who create those scenarios. We don’t have any of the template that WWE currently has. We’re open to everything, our bridges are open to all folks. When you have a wrestling company run by wrestlers, you cut out a lot of the bureaucracy, a lot of the red tape on situations like that. We don’t think about it being different, our focus is fun, and something like that was really fun.”

It is true that wrestlers within AEW have more creative control, and perhaps that is the advantage of creating a new promotion from the ground up. That said, it remains to be seen whether this model can deal with the challenges that come up in the long run.