The former AEW EVP Cody Rhodes and former Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes recently left the company for a painful reason. It has been speculated that WWE could be their next destination and could even work WrestleMania 38. It seems that the major signings of CM Punk and Bryan Danielson affected Cody’s spot in the company.
Cody Rhodes might have left due to Punk and Danielson
According to PWTorch’s Wade Keller, the signings of Punk and Danielson affected the chances of Cody re-signing with AEW after his contract expired in December 2021, with it being noted that “Cody asked for more money than what Tony Khan was willing to spend.” Both Khan and Rhodes also realized that ‘The American Nightmare’ had become “expendable.” Here is what Keller said about the matter:
“But Cody wanted to be a superstar, and AEW signing big money contracts, especially with Bryan Danielson and CM Punk, changed the dynamic to a degree with Cody. And I’m not saying this wouldn’t have happened if that didn’t happen. But Cody knew and Tony knew that Cody became expendable. You know, he went from a clear essential top tier guy, top four talent in the company. And you know, Cody was fine obviously with Moxley being signed, and with Jericho being signed. Jericho was a huge boon to the AEW brand at the beginning. And Moxley was a great acquisition and disgruntled with WWE and not really a threat to Cody, because he was just so different than Cody, even if they’re not too far off in age. But Danielson and Punk and then Adam Cole to a lesser extent, changed things certainly more than Malakai Black or Miro or Christian changed things.
Tony Khan considered other stars apart from Cody to be the top stars. It was noted that Cody was also not the top paid talent in the company after the signings like Danielson,Punk or Adam Cole. Moreover, fans had also turned against him which also affected his presence in the company:
And it did give Tony a sense of ‘I have enough top guys and then young guys on the rise’ that it took some leverage away from Cody, in terms of ‘you need me pay me’ and there’s only so much salary cap room that Tony has to spread around. And he had the good fortune to have Punk and Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole become available to him, but they were expensive. The top guys in WCW had the clause in their contract that if anyone got paid more than them, their contracts would go up to match it. And they knew politically that if you’re not the top paid person, you by definition lose leverage with the boss, with the network, with your co-workers, your peers. And Cody was no longer a top paid guy. And my understanding is he wanted to be and to a degree that just wasn’t seen by Tony as what he was worth to him in the current landscape. But it’s complicated and there’s not a single factor that plays into this because Cody might have been worth it if he weren’t getting booed and he wasn’t the subject of ridicule online and in buildings and frankly, behind the scenes in various ways.”
