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

[HarryArchieGus]

6 minutes ago, Log said:

Honestly, is anyone other than @John from Cincinnatituning in to AEW to see Cody or Brandi at this point?

Is there anything to show that their reality show drew any new viewers?

I legitmately like Cody Rhodes.  I won't suggest there hasn't been some misfires, but I have a great deal of admiration and respect for his many contributions in front of and behind the camera.  The Sammy bout and his divisive pre-match interview were way up there in my favorite segments thus far this year.  This whole situation is so interesting and I'm very much looking forward to further details.  

[Krone]

It's just amazing to me that Cody would leave AEW right now of all times. I say that because WWE has been getting lambasted and crucified for the better part of the last year for releasing all those people during the pandemic coupled with the other drama that goes on over there. The company that you helped found has finally gained some traction with the giant arrivals of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, and now Keith Lee. Now is the time you think it's best to jump ship and go back to the WWE? I understand money and all that jazz - but like someone pointed out - the whole reason he left WWE was because of their creative process. Being stuck as "Stardust" and having no say about it.

Him going back to the WWE seems like it would go against everything that he said (great heel move I guess?) from the beginning. It just seems so odd. If you would've said MJF, Wardlow, Ricky Starks, ect. I would've bought into it with a ton of stock and "understood". But this is the guy who basically LED the charge AGAINST the WWE from day one. Breaking the throne, the Pedigree teases, the WWE shade that has been tossed more than once or twice. If this is because of Brandi, I'm not even sure what to say. Did she expect to be the crowned jewel (lol) of their womens division? There's no way that Brandi has THAT MUCH of an ego... right? RIGHT?!

IF this is true, I do feel AEW is losing one of their pillars. A foundation. Somebody that represents what AEW is much like someone like RVD did for ECW. Will the promotion go on? Of course it will, but I do think this would be a big loss for the promotion and am honestly surprised TK didn't do whatever he could to keep Cody to prevent these possible bad optics.

it's gotta be a work, right?

[Hagan]

I get the speculation on the Nightmare Factory but look at who the WWE is signing for NXT and look at the majority of men and women coming out of the Nightmare Factory. Unless Cody and QT start pumping out former UGA football players and bikini models I think that's not an issue. 

[Infinit]

 

[John from Cincinnati]

Wherever Cody lands, hope he gets it in writing that he won't turn heel. 

[Ryan Faulconer]

So Cody really was this confused.  It wasn't an angle.  It didn't give his character depth.  His last promo before the ladder match was his send off even if he didn't know it quite then.  He's a guy who as time went on seemed to lose more and more of a grip on what he was doing as a character in AEW.  Last year was almost a complete write off for Cody.  

He went through fire and burned his flesh for nothing!  He must feel like a man was losing his mind at how he was accepted or not accepted by the fans.  He could eventually turn those fans during the course of one speech though.  

If only it was Jericho leaving...Neither guy had good ideas.  Both had absurdly long intros.  Cody at least didn't force everyone to sing his stupid song.  He never brought an army of MMA guys in to go over in a feud.  

Cody is such a scatterbrain.  Brandi won't be in the women's division anymore.  That is a good thing.  She wasn't the worst but she was too big of a personality with too little talent to warrant an earned push with the important ladies.  She was a great manager and host of shows dealing with alcohol.  

People probably always say this but Cody's flakiness and inconsistent tone in everything he did should have been warning signs that this would eventually happen.

He is so much better than Jericho.  Why did it have to be him???

Whyyyyy????

 

 

 

 

 

[hammerva]

I look forward to hearing WWE stans trying to convince themselves that Brandi Rhodes is a great character and cuts good promos.  

[Cobra Commander]

5 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Movement's great for performers AND fans.  We now have two feds that people can go to and stay fresh..    Everyone should be happy. The sport needs free agency.

Nah, we only need free agency from the promotion we don’t like to the promotion we like.

While Cody probably isn’t the guy who can be credited for Dynamite beating NXT, he’s the first guy at the top of early AEW to become available (right?) and even there have been WWE moves in the past that were just as much about impacting competitors than strengthening themselves (see: raiding the AWA over and over). Even if you could dispute Cody’s work, a certain percentage of fans don’t tune in for ringwork but for the guys that they know.

If Jericho had a public stint of working with AEW on a handshake, this would be happening with Jericho too.

In theory there’s some AEW guys that they’d want, or want back. But then again, this WWE hasn’t tried to bring in guys who could fit their fetishes, and have cut guys who would fit their big guy desires. So who knows if they’d really go in on bringing MJF over or what.

Gotta love that the WWE went in on getting an AEW EVP immediately after the “our new guy is walking through the forbidden door (and we’re bringing in another guy because we forgot what forbidden door meant)” event of last week.

If Vince wasn’t senile, it seems like people calling him senile would be a thing that could irk him a little bit. Maybe the Rumble turned out to be that 1997 Raw in South Africa. 

[JLowe]

5 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

 

Gotta love that the WWE went in on getting an AEW EVP immediately after the “our new guy is walking through the forbidden door (and we’re bringing in another guy because we forgot what forbidden door meant)” event of last week.

This, to me, is one the red flags that this is a huge work.

[SirSmellingtonofCascadia]

2 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Anything is possible, but it just really feels like the kind of thing Brian Pillman would've tried to pull off had social media existed in the mid '90s.

Personally, if he's really gone, I'm more of the opinion that he would try to start a #3 promotion before going back to WWE

Absolutely. Cody wants to be THE GUY, but he's not that. I think he'd rather be the big fish in a small pond than go back to WWE, get fed to Reigns or Brock (or both), and then get cycled down the card to work nonsense 50/50 feuds with a bunch of other guys. 

Cody seems the type of dude to just fuck off to TNA and Japan as long as TNA lets him be their champ for 600+ days or whatever. 

[RIPPA]

Y'all keep living that "it's a work!" dream

[Eivion]

Well this certainly wasn't news I was expecting to wake to. Feels kind of dumb for Cody to leave unless AEW was somehow lowballing him in deals. Cody is even dumber if he goes back to WWE unless he can get a Jericho type of thing going where he is just around for big stories and is otherwise working elsewhere. I have a slight morbid curiosity, but I also don't want to see Brandi Rhodes anywhere near a WWE ring so I'm hoping he does anything but join WWE.

[just drew]

29 minutes ago, Infinit said:

This is what I was wondering. Which of the young talent are "Cody people"? And do any of them follow Cody?

You could probably get a good sense by who he thanked in his release. I’d certainly be trying to lock down Preston Vance and Ricky Starks if I were TK

[EVA]

Guys, it’s not a work. The work was him convincing people that he wa some anti-WWE rebel to begin with. He’s always just been a wrestler angling for the biggest payday, as God intended.

[evidence]

35 minutes ago, chriskbrown50 said:

 

Curious to see what they do with Cody's reality show which I expect is primarily in the can; the synergy between AEW and his other shows should really be fun to watch. 

A reality show featuring Sting & Darby to replace Rhodes To The Top is a show I can get into. 

[Krone]

The AEW Community Outreach Twitter has now been changed back to Cody Rhodes handle.

[Hagan]

So - the question is how much does this hurt AEW and how much does this help WWE? 

On the hurting AEW side - it's definitely a big perception hit. This was a guy that helped launch the company. A year ago this would have been a bigger deal but AEW has brought in bigger names so that cushions the blow. Perception can go a long way, though. It also begs the question of AEW's budget, which Meltzer seems to be banging the drum on. How willing will they be to get into bidding wars over the next few years for their top guys? When it comes to a pure money transaction WWE going to always win. This isn't a big issue now but in a few years with MJF/Page/Baker etc. it becomes a larger issue. 

On the helping WWE side. He'll pop a rating for three weeks and then he won't matter as a draw. Edge peaked higher than Cody ever did in WWE and meant little after three weeks. No one full-time is any sort of factor except for Roman. They're all cogs in the machine. 

Here's the question - would WWE see signing Cody as being a bigger deal than Edge coming back? Look at how Edge's run has gone (mostly underwhelming and he's not really factored into Mania main event plans it seems).  It's just...there is a very long history of WWE signing stars from other companies and either they don't think they are stars because they came from the 'minor leagues' or they have to lose to show the other side was inferior. As I said in a prior post, best case is that Cody gets booked as well as Owens and Rollins. 

So, in summation, this hurts AEW perception-wise in the short-term and potentially has long-term significance about how willing they'll be to give raises on contract negotiation. Jericho's situation going to be interesting soon as his deal has to be up and WWE would definitely pay him more to come back than AEW would to stay, you'd think. 

For WWE - short-term it juices Mania and may help that show pick up steam but by SummerSlam he'll be in the McIntyre/Big E/Rollins/Owens mix of guys who main event when the real stars aren't around and exist to be fed to them when they are.  

[Zakk_Sabbath]

Alright, ya got me. Maybe it's not a work. But one thing I *refuse* to believe is that it was budget-driven. Meaning "We don't have the money" as opposed to "Were not spending this much on you, Cody/Brandi for the reasons of X Y and Z"

Edited February 15, 2022 by Zakk_Sabbath

[Eivion]

14 minutes ago, EVA said:

Guys, it’s not a work. The work was him convincing people that he wa some anti-WWE rebel to begin with. He’s always just been a wrestler angling for the biggest payday, as God intended.

I've never understood this. While he had no issues with being critical of shit he thought was dumb on WWE's part he also generally tried to be respectful to them the past few years. Its more TK and Omega who were just straight up anti-WWE.

[EVA]

1 minute ago, Eivion said:

I've never understood this. While he had no issues with being critical of shit he thought was dumb on WWE's part he also generally tried to be respectful to them the past few years. Its more TK and Omega who were just straight up anti-WWE.

I feel like you may have missed a couple dozen things.

[just drew]

I just don’t see the young performers in AEW thinking it’s a good idea to sign w WWE. Britt Baker doesn’t need to look too far to find someone to ask about how signing w wwe worked out for them. That AEW locker room is balls deep w folks who would be more than happy to give their honest opinion on working there.

 

I’m not 100% sure I buy the “budget” excuse. I’m sure there are budgets. I’m also sure TK would exceed them to bring in/keep people he thought were truly necessary. This has, imo, been in the works at least since revolution last year when the crowd really first started shitting on Cody, and I wonder if the seeds were planted when TK took creative away from the boys…

[Eivion]

10 minutes ago, Hagan said:

On the hurting AEW side - it's definitely a big perception hit. This was a guy that helped launch the company. A year ago this would have been a bigger deal but AEW has brought in bigger names so that cushions the blow. Perception can go a long way, though. It also begs the question of AEW's budget, which Meltzer seems to be banging the drum on. How willing will they be to get into bidding wars over the next few years for their top guys? When it comes to a pure money transaction WWE going to always win. This isn't a big issue now but in a few years with MJF/Page/Baker etc. it becomes a larger issue. 

AEW can outspend WWE. Its just a case of TK when and where TK is willing to dip into his own wallet. The man himself has more less bragged about this realty in the past. This seems to have little to do with budget and likely is just  case of Cody wanting more than TK thinks he is worth.

[EVA]

4 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Alright, ya got me. Maybe it's not a work. But one thing I *refuse* to believe is that it was budget-driven. Meaning "We don't have the money" as opposed to "Were not spending this much on you, Cody/Brandi for the reasons of X Y and Z"

Oh no doubt. If both sides still wanted him in AEW, they would have worked it out. If Cody priced himself out of the ballpark, he did so knowingly.

[Rev Ray]

10 minutes ago, evidence said:

A reality show featuring Sting & Darby to replace Rhodes To The Top is a show I can get into. 

I am still shopping My 2point0 Dads project with Garcia, Martel and parker.

[JLowe]

6 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Alright, ya got me. Maybe it's not a work. But one thing I *refuse* to believe is that it was budget-driven. Meaning "We don't have the money" as opposed to "Were not spending this much on you, Cody/Brandi for the reasons of X Y and Z"

I'm sure it's the latter. When we bring in new hires at $18 an hour at my company, we better expect that anyone already there who is earning less is going to squawk or walk.