Cody Rhodes On AEW’s Rising Stars, AEW’s In-Ring Style & Being Embraced By Indie Fans After WWE Exit

Cody Rhodes has had a life-changing 2019 with the start of All Elite Wrestling.

Speaking to Sport 1 in Germany, Cody talked about his popularity after leaving WWE how it led to the birth of AEW.

“I don’t think I expected it. The truth is: I am very honest to myself when it comes to my spot on the card. When AEW came to fruition, I was rising up and I was being greeted so generously by its fandom,” said Cody. “But if you compare it to fishing: That’s a bite and I’m not gonna let go of that. That’s what wrestling is about. The beautiful thing about AEW: Everybody thinks that way, everybody wants to be at the top, but everyone’s doing it the right way: by performance.”

When discussing All Elite Wrestling combining old school and new school wrestling, Cody Rhodes equated it to the old saying of “what’s old is new again.”

“They say in wrestling: What’s old is new. There is so much of the territory wrestling and even pre-Crockett, pre-television wrestling, that has so many great stories and elements to bring to the squared circle and tell a story within the ropes,” he said. “To be able to do that on worldwide television is huge. But we also have to do our best not to be a parody of what’s old. Not to be nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake. You have to give people the buffet: some old, some new. We are melting those worlds. I like Memphis Wrestling, southern wrestling, I revel in that old school, but not lazy old school – the diligent, committed old school. If you mash that up with the new school and create something new, like Darby Allin does or MJF: People will let you know how much they love it.”

Cody would also speak about some of the younger wrestlers in All Elite Wrestling who are ones to watch in the coming year, naming specifically Darby Allin and Kris Statlander.

“There are people who are definitely ahead of the curve considering they have never been on TV: Darby Allin, for example, or Kris Statlander. I didn’t know who Kris Statlander was a month ago. Now I can’t imagine AEW without her,” he said. “She’s an incredibly special talent and we want to cultivate that. I’ve been really impressed with so much of our roster with how they’ve taken doing live television.”

You can read the full interview at this link.