Cody Rhodes was already out of AEW and in WWE by the time All Out rolled around last year. He certainly read the news like everyone else that The Elite and CM Punk had a brawl after the media scrum, but The American Nightmare had a different connection to the situation than most.
In a recent interview Ariel Helwani, Cody Rhodes was asked about the Brawl Out situation. Cody seemed truthful about his response as he expressed his disappoint in how it all went down. He also decided not to put blame on anyone in particular.
“I’m not putting any blame on anybody, but I just hated seeing that. Because, as the company grows, and I hope it continues to grow, I hope people remember the mission in the first place. Why we were there. And if you bring in people that don’t know the mission, things like that can happen. And I’m not saying he [Punk] didn’t know the mission or anything of that nature, but I was just bummed out.”
“No heat on Punk, no heat on Matt, Nick, Kenny or Tony. I was just bummed out when I saw it. That’s not how we envisioned it. If you were at ALL IN… the spirit of ALL IN. If you ever lose the spirit, you’re lost. And I think the spirit was gone in that moment. Doesn’t mean you can’t get it back, but it was just a bummer.”
During Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru, the famous pro wrestling manager addressed how Cody Rhodes handled the situation. He made it clear that Cody did the intelligent thing by playing the role of a diplomat.
“What else can he say? He can break any NDAs as you mentioned and he can p*ss off a bunch of people that are going to be texting him and whining about it and everything, or he can just be diplomatic and move on with his day. And I think that’s what he is doing there. He doesn’t have to worry about it anymore and he’s probably disappointed to see it from his old cohorts, but that probably also reinforces in his mind that he made the right decision.”
Cody Rhodes is incredible at giving interviews. He has a personable inflection that really makes you believe he is in the moment and giving the most genuine version of himself. Even if he feels otherwise about Brawl Out, he certainly took that question on and handled it like a champ.
What’s your take on what Cody said? Sound off in the comments!