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2022 WRESTLERS LEAVING COMPANIES THREAD (Releases, FAs, etc...)


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As an aside, this is a weak look for WWE. They lose Danielson & Punk & Cole .. and their statement is to take a mid-carder from AEW (because that’s what Cody has been for going on a year). If they elevate Cody to main event title status they simply elevate AEW by association. It would actually be the biggest mark of AEW superiority to date.

Edited by A_K
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I will miss Cody. Unique talent and connection. Didn't always enjoy him and some of his shit stunk (just buried the Penta arm breaker), but he turned into one of the more exciting parts of the show. 

I already miss the Lambert and Brandi segments. First thought was "no more lambeezy and Brandi!" 

That MLK/Malcolm X Photoshop is GOATed. 

Edited by Jiji
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It would be hard to argue that Cody was a major reason why AEW got off the ground. He had name recognition that guys like Omega and the Bucks lacked outside of the wrestling world.

But they've done a great job of building people up and signing free agents, and as far as recognition goes now he'd at best be in the top five recognizable ex-WWE guys on the roster. Punk has more recognition. Danielson has more recognition. Moxley was on WWE tv more recently, higher up on the card, and is getting name-dropped by non-wrestling outlets because of the time he took to help himself. And as much as some people hate him, Chris Jericho is, was, and always will be a much bigger star than Cody Rhodes. So that covers the twin prongs of "the network" and the mythical casual fan.

The AEW hardcore fans, meanwhile, were souring more on him as time went by. Homegrown talent was getting built up, and more and fresher underutilized talent was being snapped up from WWE - and to his credit, I really believe he did his best to try to "make" them, whether it always clicked or not.

So I honestly don't think any of the parties involved suffer from this. AEW didn't need Cody like it used to. Cody obviously feels he can do better elsewhere. And if the WWE signs him, they'll be in a better place too.

 

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5 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

are we sure about going down that "Cody is an AEW midcarder and the WWE pushing him to the top would elevate AEW" road when there's ex-NXT guys in the upper half of the AEW cards?

AEW stared from scratch. Zero. The best, most lucrative talent was locked up with the opposition. From that point they’ve stolen various main event talent the opposition clearly didn’t want to lose (Cole; Danielson; Punk), grown superstar talent of their own (Darby; MJF) and cleverly utilised talent that the dysfunctional competition (and WWE is by all measures a deeply dysfunctional commercial company now) looked over. Having leveraged those 3 categories, Rhodes on his best night with all talent available for a single show is absolutely no where near the top of that card. His act was completely sunk - he was finished in that company. One can imagine just how deeply his nose was out of joint watching the likes of Punk MJF and Danielson tear the house down week after week while his childish pretentious creative was an albatross around the shows neck  by return.

Edited by A_K
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20 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

Am I the only one wondering where this leaves Arn? We never got an Anderson double crossing a Rhodes in the 21st century! 

It'd be better for him to turn on Dustin. 

Arm turning on Cody would get a babyface pop.

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Not directly saying that Cody is gonna turn out like any of these guys but... Austin was pretty much floundering for a year solid on his way out of WCW. Dustin Rhodes was pushed at a slightly higher level for 1996 WWF compared to 1994 WCW. Chris Jericho was effectively irrelevant for the last 8 months of his WCW run and debuted in the WWF interrupting the Rock in 1999. Big Show debuted in the main event of a WWF PPV after being lost in the mix in 1998 WCW.

Like there's no shortage of situations where someone actually ended up in a better card position in the WWF than their previous promotion. Then if they fit in, they stuck around the top. If they had to step back and cool down a guy, they would cool him down. Sometimes they cooled the guy down no matter what.

Aside from people who think wrestling is real or people wanting some sort of bragging rights because they need to vindicate the show they watch, who's gonna give a fuck that Cody Rhodes was in the midcard or holding the TNT title if he won the WWE's second most important title from Lashley in the next month and holds it for a month or so.

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5 minutes ago, kafkonia said:

Punk has more recognition. Danielson has more recognition. Moxley was on WWE tv more recently, higher up on the card, and is getting name-dropped by non-wrestling outlets because of the time he took to help himself. And as much as some people hate him, Chris Jericho is, was, and always will be a much bigger star than Cody Rhodes.

But I was told that WarnerMedia doesn’t know who any of those people are, and are probably upset since they green lit a second season of a reality show that never began filming apparently and have to *gasp* re-cast yet another chair on that talent show they air weekly (if he signs with WWE).

Cody leaving really isn’t the big deal that some want it to be. Shocking, yeah, I guess. But it won’t break AEW in half or anything. He was important in the beginning, but became less important as the years went on and they got bigger names. 

Also worth noting that the only person from the original group of founders that actually wanted to meet with Tony Khan was one of the Young Bucks (Matt, I think?), everyone else was super hesitant, so I mean, who REALLY deserves the credit there?

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23 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

Am I the only one wondering where this leaves Arn? We never got an Anderson double crossing a Rhodes in the 21st century! 

I'm sure there's still a few guys in AEW who don't have an older wrestler as a manager/big brother. Plus Arn is managing Lee Johnson and Tony Schiavone's son Brock.

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Scorching hot takes on both sides, and as usual I suspect folks like @Gordlowwho are somewhere in the middle as “good for all sides” are the closest to correct. Biggest question is how big a deal the promotions themselves will make over this on TV and the socials.

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19 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

Not directly saying that Cody is gonna turn out like any of these guys but... Austin was pretty much floundering for a year solid on his way out of WCW. Dustin Rhodes was pushed at a slightly higher level for 1996 WWF compared to 1994 WCW. Chris Jericho was effectively irrelevant for the last 8 months of his WCW run and debuted in the WWF interrupting the Rock in 1999. Big Show debuted in the main event of a WWF PPV after being lost in the mix in 1998 WCW.

Like there's no shortage of situations where someone actually ended up in a better card position in the WWF than their previous promotion. Then if they fit in, they stuck around the top. If they had to step back and cool down a guy, they would cool him down. Sometimes they cooled the guy down no matter what.

Aside from people who think wrestling is real or people wanting some sort of bragging rights because they need to vindicate the show they watch, who's gonna give a fuck that Cody Rhodes was in the midcard or holding the TNT title if he won the WWE's second most important title from Lashley in the next month and holds it for a month or so.


I think this is off base. The incredible skill of Vince & co in the 90s was identifying under-developed talent in other promotions who had not been given the platform to shine (the held-down cruisers like Jericho; Austin). Rhodes has actually been given an incredible & sustained platform at AEW and he has .. failed. The Ogogo angle was a failure. The QT angle was a failure. The Black angle was a failure whereby as face fans couldn’t stand the sight of him. The last time he was really over in any effective capacity was the MJF angle which was years ago now. For me this is kind of opposite to the skill of Vince in the 90s - this would be akin to taking the Total Package version of Luger who was still somewhat relevant in late 90s/early 00s WCW and treating him as a big deal in WWF. Instead WWF didn’t go near that kind of talent when WCW failed.

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4 minutes ago, A_K said:


I think this is off base. The incredible skill of Vince & co in the 90s was identifying under-developed talent in other promotions who had not been given the platform to shine (the held-down cruisers like Jericho; Austin). Rhodes has actually been given an incredible & sustained platform at AEW and he has .. failed. The Ogogo angle was a failure. The QT angle was a failure. The Black angle was a failure whereby as face fans couldn’t stand the sight of him. The last time he was really over in any effective capacity was the MJF angle which was years ago now. For me this is kind of opposite to the skill of Vince in the 90s - this would be akin to taking the Total Package version of Luger who was still somewhat relevant in late 90s/early 00s WCW and treating him as a big deal in WWF. Instead WWF didn’t go near that kind of talent when WCW failed.

This is a very astute take, @Antony_Khan.

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22 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

A_K, just to check, you're not Tony Khan, right? 

The irony here is that I was most vocal that Khan was getting a ton wrong through late 20 / early 21. But I think he has been a ton stronger overall of late, and the ratings and talent receiving emphasis show that too more or less.

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Cody and WWE are just a much better fit for one another. Cody can cut long promos and have solid matches with other good workers. WWE will be glad to put he and Brandi in angles where they both get to talk and work. Honestly, I think he fits there much better than he does in AEW, where I think workrate means a little more and cutting long promos means a little less. 

It really is a winner for everyone. WWE gets a guy who is good for their house style and promo style, AEW has a bloated roster and is losing two people who really weren't an on-camera plus to them in 2022, Rhodes and Brandi get paid and will get the TV time that they're looking for with all those hours WWE has to fill, and wrestlers now have two legit companies to play off one another when negotiating their first contract with a large company that has prime-time TV. It also will keep matchups fresher if guys go back and forth. 

It's rare when everyone is a winner, so yeah, this is really something to appreciate, I think.

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Sad day. I tuned in for Cody Rhodes. Never knew what that guy was going to do next. He wasn't always the best wrestler, but he always had a question around him. What is he going to pull this time? And honestly that kind of trait is way harder to find than good rasslin skills. Some of it was cringe and some of it absolutely sold pay per views(Remember those early promos?). But he always tried to do something.

Without him it's just a good wrestling show.

I don't even believe it's really over, honestly. Holding out hope he erupts from the ring in a glittery suit as DynamiteDust or something.

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Yeah. Love him or hate him, an absolutely compelling performer.

Interesting is better than “good.” If all I cared about was “good” wrestling, I’d still have an NJPW World subscription. Or watch more main roster WWE, which is nothing but world class dudes putting in a shift.

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To each their own. His verbosity & lack of creative direction was as compelling for me in its own a way as shock-factor backyard wrestling or Nick Gage style work would be in a different fashion (not very). But it is a shame if some genuinely did enjoy his weekly contributions.

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I think all the parties involved are going to come out fine, but WWE Cody is not going to be AEW Cody, and that is a net loss for pro wrestling in America. For as maligned as it was, Cody’s American Dream promo >>>>>>> Cody reciting boring WWE scripts about title opportunities.

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In case anyone was ever wondering, here are the actual lyrics to Cody's theme song:

Quote

Adrenaline, in my soul

Every thought, out of control
Do it all to get them off their feet

Crowd is here, about to blow

Waitin' for me to start the show
Out the curtain, lights go up I'm home
(Whoa!)


And my father said, when I was younger

Hard times breed better
men (better men!)


You took it all away, I give it all away

Can't take my freedom
Here to change the game,
a banner made of pain
I built my kingdom

Now you bow to me

You took my dreams but not my name
You'll follow me until the end

I am my kingdom

Lights go down, I'm ready now

Tear this roof off for the town
Gonna give 'em what they came to see

Hear the crowd, on their toes

Ready for me to start the show
Out the curtain, lights go up I'm home
(Whoa!)


And my father said, when I was younger

Hard times breed better
men (better men!)


You took it all away, I give it all away

Can't take my freedom
Here to change the game,
a banner made of pain
I built my kingdom

Now you bow to me

You took my dreams but not my name
You'll follow me until the end
I am my kingdom


You tried to tell me what to do

I saw the door and kicked it down
I stepped right over and right through
And you can never stop me now
(Bow!) (Now!)


I am the king and you're the crown

Now watch me as I take my throne
And rule my kingdom


You took it all away, I give it all away

Can't take my freedom
Here to change the game,
a banner made of pain
I built my kingdom

Now you bow to me

You took my dreams but not my name
You'll follow me until the end
I am my kingdom


You took it all away, I give it all away

Can't take my freedom
Here to change the game,
a banner made of pain
I built my kingdom

Now you bow to me

You took my dreams but not my name
You'll follow me until the end
I am my kingdom


Now you bow to me!

Like you couldn't be more blatant. So just so everyone knows, Cody is going back to the company he was just trashing a few weeks ago on TV. And he's expecting there not to be repercussions? Best of luck to him.

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Keep trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. We know from what’s been reported that Kenny and the bucks had three year deals, with owner options for the fourth year, which were picked up. Pretty reasonable to assume that all three acts (Kenny, bucks, Cody) had the same contract structure. Dave even said maybe there was a two year option on cody. Lawyers got involved a few days ago, and now Cody and Brandi are clear from the company and apparently everything connected to that. 
 

Could the owner option on Cody’s contract have been picked up, and then he lawyered up to get out of it? Like all the wwe talent have fantasized about forever? Is this the 4d chess that’s really been going on? (Or are the edibles kicking in already…)

Edit: probably most likely a star athlete tried to negotiate an extension a year early I guess. 

Edited by matt925
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