Here’s a backlash beginning against AEW’s Cody Rhodes, and it seems to be mainly out of fear of what could happen. By reportedly booking himself to win the TNT Championship, it’s brought back memories of Jeff Jarrett putting the NWA title on himself in TNA, and Triple H using his influence to propel himself forward in the WWE. In short, Cody Rhodes is AEW’s Triple H, but it’s not a bad thing if he sticks to not challenging for the AEW world title.
Disco Inferno and Konnan had a good discussion on this on Keepin’ it 100 Official. The bring up some great points, and it got us to thinking about this.
Why it’s not a bad thing
There’s no denying Cody is very talented. He’s from the old school like his brother and father, and understands wrestling is a business and it must entertain the fans. He’s adamant about thanking us for watching their shows, so I think it’s all good there. The problem comes from others abusing or using their power to push themselves instead of others.
Dusty Rhodes was an awesome talent. His in-ring and mic work were some of the best ever. But he had a habit of making himself world champion. This can be argued he did so out of necessity, that they didn’t have another face capable of leading the way at the time, and so on.
All are logical and Dusty was a good to great champion most of the time.
Cody has limited himself to the midcard and tag title opportunities, but that’s not going to come without some heat from fans and other wrestlers that feel it’s nepotism.
In many ways, he’s more like Triple H than Jeff Jarrett for using his connections and ability to book himself as TNT Champion.
It’ll give him a chance to put over younger talent like Jungle Boy Jack Perry as he defends the title every week. This seems like his intent, and it’s for the benefit of AEW and the fans. Like Triple H, his star will keep rising but he’ll bring others along as well.
Why it’s bad
Lance Archer should have won. Period.
At the very least, it should’ve been a double disqualification, and the two they beat should’ve been given a match to win the belt.
Archer was built up to the point that he should’ve continued his feud with Cody beyond this. Now, he and Jake Roberts are in limbo. Even if we want to use the argument that Archer is 43 and only has a couple of years left, that’s a couple of years he could’ve been a terror and put over a few faces in the process. But now?
As much good as Cody could do as champion, there’s the chance Archer could’ve done more.
Then there’s the fact that Cody’s already on TV every week. Both he and his wife Brandi are nearly always visible, so it’s not increasing the visibility of the promotion or championship. Those tuning in to see Cody as champion are probably the same ones that tune in to see him weekly as it is.
We could be totally wrong and Cody just made the best move of his career. There are always going to be different opinions, so we might as well enjoy the ride.
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