Cody Rhodes is going to WWE? Is this a work or was it always part of the plan? Why would Cody Rhodes call AEW the Ellis Island (a.k.a. freedom) of professional wrestling and crawl back to the “forbidden land” of sports entertainment? Was it because of money? Was it because of ego? Or was it because it was best for business? The following will dissect all 3 issues yet still elucidate why Cody Rhodes going to WWE was a SMART business move.
Money
Money. It can be argued that the man has wife and kids and needs the extra dough. If WWE offered more money to Cody than AEW, it can be argued that Cody left because he was frustrated with the lack of compensation in the new contract that was proposed.
However, there’s another way of looking at this. For any franchise, there’s a salary cap and AEW currently has a budget issue. This makes Cody Rhodes an immense liability in the budget because he’s an expensive commodity, an established star, and a big draw in AEW.
There were only 2 options in this fiscal decision: (1) Release enhancement talent from AEW Dark to make space for Cody Rhodes in the budget (which is a WWE move) or (2) sacrifice Cody for the greater good of job security in maintaining the roster that is currently available whilst saving up the money AEW could have paid Cody for future signings that would collectively benefit the company in the long run.
The latter is probably what AEW did and it was definitely the best business move for both parties.
Conflict
Conflict. Is it possible Cody Rhodes had a conflict with management that led to his departure from AEW? There have been rumors going around about AEW having managerial conflict backstage. They had one major disagreement and the rumor mill blew it out of proportion for the extra clicks obviously. Thank you, [CLICKBAIT WRESTLING NEWS SITE]!
Nonetheless, managerial conflict can be healthy because it would be asinine for all of the higher-ups to just say “yes” to Tony Khan just like Bruce Pritchard, Kevin Dunne, and John Laurinaitis do for Vince McMahon every single week. When something seems wrong, managers have to speak up and convey their opinions.
As long as the conflict is constructive and not destructive to the point that they despise each other, they will have to learn from each other no matter how privileged and self-centered they are. If Cody actually left AEW because of this, it would be childish because managerial synergy, not micromanagement, is necessary to produce a good show. Cody left AEW for something in the bigger picture.
Business
Business. Cody won’t admit this due to certain legalities but this move could be a way to draw more eyes to AEW. And when I say more eyes, I don’t mean “pro wrestling fans.” I mean those “casual fans” who only watch WWE because they like sports entertainment. WWE has a mainstream platform, and Cody will use it to help both companies.
He will help WWE in the short term and help AEW in the long term. Cody will succeed in his quest in WWE based on how established he is and how much WWE would value his star-power now to the point that they won’t want to let him go. When his contract expires, they’ll treat him so well because they want him to stay.
However, Cody won’t re-sign because he will only be using WWE as a crutch to help AEW. Even though Cody won’t sign a WWE contract without perks (i.e. millions of dollars, world title, and creative freedom), his main goal is still to hinder the monopoly and maintain mutualistic competition because that’s when pro wrestling is at its best.
Furthermore, as Brock Lesnar said, WWE needs someone to move the needle. Cody can move that needle while leaving a huge opportunity in AEW for those stars to get over in his absence. Cody’s move helps both companies more than anyone could imagine.
Conclusion
As a result, Cody Rhodes going to WWE is a smart business move and he will become world champion before going back to AEW to expand his kingdom even more than he did the first time. It won’t be easy. It will be tough. WWE could always take away his dreams to be a main eventer, but they’ll never take away his passion for professional wrestling because hard times breed better men.
”Hard Times Breed Better Men”-Dusty Rhodes
