Jay's Ways - How TNA Pushed Cody To AEW Submitted by Justin Watry on 12/13/2020 at 12:18 PM
It may seem like ancient history in 2020, but Cody Rhodes used to be in WWE. Then he was let go on May 22nd, 2016. There have been lots of theories on why he was finally released as he had always been a promising potential main event star and was regularly on television. The leading story is that Cody was not too fond of playing the "Stardust" character any longer and wanted more for his career. Realizing it wasn't going to happen in WWE, he requested a release. After figuring out all the legal mumbo jumbo, it was granted. Now, he may be leading the All Elite Wrestling charge in 2020, but what about the few years in between starting up the new TNT promotion?
Well, Cody made a list of opponents. A personal list of dream opponents he wanted to wrestle, across all different companies. It was a cool idea and a great way to kick start his tour around the world to prove WWE missed out on his talent. I loved the idea back then, even if others have tried to imitate it since and fallen short. Cody did it right and in short order, he was the talk of independent wrestling.
Ah yes, the detour he made over to Impact Wrestling. Had to have that big match with The Miracle Mike Bennett I guess. Spanning over just a couple of tapings and only a handful of matches, the entire Cody (and Brandi Rhodes) run in Impact was puzzling. Clearly, he was destined for bigger and better opportunities and never quite fit in. He was a big fish, stopping by in a little pond. We all knew that then, and I think even he would admit that. However, just this past weekend, Cody did make an interesting tweet about his time there four years ago.
I was genuinely only there 2 days as a favor to Josh M and to help my Wife get started. Nice lil’ experience.
The team Canada guy gave away my parking spot to ADR. I then committed to ROH, Bucks and I did All In...and the rest is history.
Then his parking spot was given away, and he bailed to Ring of Honor, which led to forming a bond with The Young Bucks and working All In...and well, now All Elite Wrestling is getting nearly a million viewers per week on TNT as a young, thriving promotion where he is an executive. Good move Impact. Hope that the parking spot for Alberto Del Rio was worth it. Pettiness? Maybe. Greatness? Absolutely.
