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What?!

"Mashing" Cody Rhodes. ...I'll let myself out.

Am I the only one who thinks that Cody's departure is not going to do much to harm AEW and his arrival isn't going to mean much for WWE? He's an above average pro wrestler who doesn't really bring anything to the table that makes me want to watch, but if he's on TV, I don't change the channel. He's kind of like a baked potato, I'm not going to turn it down and with the right toppings it can be delicious, but when it comes to potatoes is rather have them mashed, French fried, or au gratin. Cody's good but I'd never order that shit if some scalloped potatoes are available.

My Top 5 Potato Foods : -French Fries -Potato Chips -Baked Potato -Cody Rhodes -Mashed Potatoes

For the uninitiated...

Opposite take: I love Cody. Any man who will take 10 whips to the back, jump off an (AEW tall) cage, and go through an overly burning table, just for the passion of loving wrestling, has my respect. And those early AEW babyface promos were some of the best work he's done. It just didn't work after that.

Spoilers for his debut: Flashing CODY letters everywhere, Picture of him and Pharao in 3D, music plays for 3 minutes. "Can it be? It is! OH MY!" Then he stands in the ring for 15 minutes while they replay his entrance, show a highlight reel of Pharao, go to commercial, three times, run something backstage where Pharao gets the 24/7 title. Cut back to the ring, Cody gone.

"she's just a common girl, working hard for her curls"

I believe "selling out" exists. It happens when you forsake something you believe in for money. But I also believe Cody didn't "sell out" because all the stuff he's been telling us he believed since leaving WWE was a con. I'm glad he signed with WWE because he represented the type of old school carny con artist bullshit I'd rather not have to watch in AEW. They're doing fine without him.

Say what you will about Kenny Omega, but that is one tough son of a bitch to be wrestling the schedule he has with the high quality of matches he consistently puts out with such a shit ton of injuries. Take you a well earned rest, Mr. Omega

We are accepting every Urban Meyer story as fact because they are all funny and we need every laugh we can get in this shitty world.

To be fair, the ratio of assholes to regular people is higher than average in Texas.

Julia is TOTALLY EVIL now! YAAAAY! I'm guessing the 2022 Evil Cheerleader thing is about to totally kick in. Skye Blue carried her to the best match of Julia's young career even if they did completely fuck up the finish. Julia will have to get one of those Smells Like Teen Spirit Satanic cheerleading get-ups when she finally joins the House of Black. Push the Ass Boys. They are the 2022 American Males without the Scotty Riggs dropkick. Darius Martin was good as the Ricky Morton to Chaos Project's Lazertron/Boogie-Woogie Man. Strange match as it was Top Flight making Chaos Project look good for 90% of the match. Ruby Soho/Anna Jay vs Emi Sakura/The Bunny was a good last match from Emi for a while. Lance Archer does the Jericho In Canada promo was awesome. HE ATTACKED A FAN! WHO BOUGHT A FRONT ROW TICKET! WHAT NEXT?!?! A TEN YEAR OLD?!?! Stu Grayson is the best thing on Evil Uno's vlog. He is so French Canadian. YAY! It's Nick Comoroto! Will he beel someone? Stu Grayson and John Silver are like a miniature version of the Mongols. I loved the crazy over the corner bump by Grayson to take out Marshall and Comoroto. John Silver was the glue that held that whole wacky final sequence differently than he usually holds it together. That was good. EVIL JULIA! YAY! Stu Grayson is the best wrestler in AEW? Eh, maybe....

I think everyone has to admit that Cody has definitely succeeded in getting a ton of buzz around himself. That's impressive.

No. Really.

Plumber

I know people are excited about the shape Bret seems to be in, but doesn't it make sense for Arn to end up with a face-leaning Revival since he barely has anything to do with Cody and Brandi gone?

Somewhere, Ultimo Dragon is nodding in approval.

Both Giant and Hall "turned" in that match. Sting and Giant were Team WCW taking on Team Wolfpac. nWo had just split into two factions at that point. Sting wanted payback on Nash for costing him the title at Spring Stampede against Savage. Nash was teaming with Hall. So basically, Hall colluded with Giant to turn on Nash, and they both sided with Hogan/nWo Black & White, so Nash was betrayed. Sting, who was Team WCW looked on in disbelief/disgust that Hall could turn on his best friend like that.

Maybe the Steelers can get Jimmy as well as Mitch and they can change the team name to the Pittsburgh Failing Upwards.

I don't particularly care for the guy, but I don't understand the criticism of him. People seem to be mad that they got worked by a professional worker into believing that he was something he wasn't. All these accusations of being "fake" and "phony" don't make a lick of sense in the world of wrestling. Isn't that exactly what the business is? It'd be like getting mad that Hogan didn't actually take his vitamins and say his prayers. How dare you lie to us Hulkster!?!

In kayfabe, Arn helped negotiate their contracts. Yes, that's this week's entry in "AEW angles we all forgot about."

I’m friends with the woman running this account, and I’m really excited for what she helps create.

I don't think Cody sold out because I think he's always been a sellout, if that makes sense. I don't mean that negatively, either. He's always been out to make a lot of money. I have zero problems with that. It's just that when you present yourself as the guy who's going to break the throne and take down that evil company up north, you have to expect there to be some raised eyebrows when you immediately go back to working for them. @Craig Hbrought up the idea of punk bands and selling out. I just don't think that applies to Cody. He's not Green Day. He's Nickleback. He never had "cred". He's always been a major label guy.

Thank you! I'm not begrudging Cody for making money, I'm begrudging him for being a phony. Everything from that Tweeted list of aspirational indy stuff he wanted to do, designed to look like aw shucks he just loves wrestling but in reality all those bookings were already done before he posted it, to the throne smashing and all the other performative "one of us" acts of rebellion, is what I begrudge the guy for. I know it's quaint to call out fakes and sellouts in our cynical age but fuck it, I'll be quaint. The guy is a phony. Good for him that everything worked out because Vince loves nothing more than re-signing guys who shit on him, but he's still a phony.

all well in good, this is why you don't burn bridges. Or make it look to the fans that you actively despise the competition if you really don't. He is either a sell out or phony. Take your pick. Nobody forced him to do the over the top entrances with the sledge hammer, the false pedigrees, the theme song lyrics. It's different if someone like Omega or the Bucks left because they never really went out of their way to bury the competition only to come running to them the minute he was "unhappy" Had Cody not gone out of his way to bash WWE any chance he had (and hell he created the chances himself) I would have 0 issue with him leaving if he isn't happy. I left my last job not because of money but because I don't want to work with assholes. I told the company owner that very sentence the day I left. I wasn't happy I left. If I am not happy now I won't go back to the former company even if they offered me 7 figures. It wouldn't happen. If Cody wasn't happy at AEW he is damn fortunate WWE took him back after the stuff he pulled. Imagine if they didn't where would he go?

That is one harsh take and probably the one that is the most true.

That's s good counterpoint! But... You may recall an isolated asshole fan trying to start a "What?" chant during an emotional ( Kingston? Mox? Punk?) promo on a recent episode of AEW TV and getting shut down immediately while receiving ZERO apparent support from anyone else in the crowd. I can recall Jericho successfully asking the crowd to stop with WWE-reference chants as "bad ideas from bad creative" and I am pleasantly surprised by how easily Bryan kept an "AEW Yes Movement" from becoming a thing that grew out of control. I won't even pretend to argue that there aren't asshole wrestling fans. Obviously in any large gathering of human beings there are going to be at least a few assholes. I might, however, try to argue that the assholes certainly don't seem to be the majority any more... at least not in AEW crowds. Not sure what the ratio might be for a WM weekend crowd in Texas.

I liked how they said that Sheamus, Ridge and Butch grew up together. a 44 year old Irishman, a 33 year old rugby player from Liversedge, and a 28 year old backyard Wrestler from Birmingham. Just hanging out at weekends together, in the past. As children.

IT'S YOUR KIDS, LEIA! SOMETHING'S GOTTA BE DONE ABOUT YOUR KIDS!

Darby

I don't know about y'all, but it's column A, column B with Ruby's offense looking WAY more snug and good 'ol Bun Bun the Rabbit LEANING THE FUCK INTO IT. Say that shit in the mirror five times and see where it gets you.

Does what they have on their programs qualify as wrestling?

My dad is really the only person I know who watches Raw and Smackdown regularly but isn't a smark. He's been a fan since the early 80's, through and through WWE fan. I asked him who he thought was wrestling Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania, he said he figured a legend would come out and beat him up. When I said I heard it might be Cody Rhodes he said "Who!?" I kinda reminded him, said he left a few years, helped found a new company and now he's back. "Who cares?" He is very engrossed by Roman-Brock.

Ah yes. Until Josh came along, TOM BRADY had more wins in Buffalo than any QB other than Jim Kelly. LOL.

Do y'all get this worked up when some actor goes on Jimmy Fallon's show or a podcast and blows smoke about a new movie they're not really feeling? I can't imagine applying this rigid standard of public honesty to any other type of entertainer. I guess it'd be nice if people were straight with you, but it's not a requirement and being so demanding of dudes on TV is weird as shit to me. Beyond that, the "lying every second they're in public" is clearly a gross misrepresentation. It's okay to just dislike the guy without making up nonsense justifications.

Just because Washington is an idiotic franchise - it doesn't mean the rest of the teams are gonna make the same mistake

Someone's playing themselves right into getting the Pirates to ... shall we say, test the new CBA player service time rules.

To hell with that DC pizza place...I want to see this place's basement.

When I was younger I used to begrudge punk bands or other bands for "selling out." Now that I'm older, I realize that was horrendously stupid and short sighted. However, Cody falls into this grey area where I don't know what to think about the guy. I brushed off the tattoo at the time because I didn't think it was a big deal, but it clearly was bigger than I imagined. Then there's all of the anti-WWE stuff and wanting to take WWE head on, which the other EVPs didn't want to do, and now he's back with WWE. So to be faaaaaaaiiiiiiiir, I don't think Cody imagined he would be in this spot again. I have a feeling he was going to be with AEW for life until he was left with less and less creative control. So he did what was best for his family and lifestyle and ultimately, that's fine. I just think it's going to be a little awkward to walk back a lot of the stuff he's said and done since the moment he was released from WWE the first time. Although, who knows, it could be as simple as saying it was just business and no one appreciates someone willing to fight like Vince does. In the end, Cody probably did the best thing possible for his career. He did the Christian thing, which was to show Vince he was wrong and that he could be a main eventer, he could be a draw, and hell, he could even help start up and run a wrestling company that is on WWE's heels and along the way he was completely shameless in wanting to stick it to WWE. That's the weird sort of crap Vince appreciates and makes him like someone even more. Now, do I think this winds up in him being protected like Roman or Brock? Not a chance. Like others said, he has a window where he's something special for three months at the most until he's a JAG and going 50/50 with Sami Zayn or Kevin Owens or whoever. Then after another 9 months to a year he'll get a push to a championship when he's not even special anymore and no one cares because that's just how Vince operates.

I don't begrudge Cody for going into business for himself and trying to make as much money as he can as long as he can. That's what he should be doing. I begrudge him for all the trolling BS. The lyrics on his theme song aren't even subtle. He got a stupid neck tattoo that no one likes except him. He made himself into AEW's Jeff Jarrett. As Kenny Omega said, no one cared more about making it AEW vs. WWE than Cody Rhodes. That was his schtick. On the other hand, Roman Reigns has basically no opponents left in WWE. So he could be a fresh new opponent for Roman at this point. There's literally no one left for Roman to beat. Bron Breakker isn't ready yet. There's really no one left in NXT to call up who can be a good new opponent, other than maybe Tommaso Ciampa.

Salient point here. Counterpoint: Douchebag wrestling fans will chant any old shit.

Great. That always turns out well among wrestling promoters.

Two belts at the same time, man.

An Asian American loses his temper one time because someone said he was “too white”, and now Dr Internet PhD is diagnosing him with all manner of psychological ailments. Fantastic.