Ex-Bullet Club Member Reveals He Missed Out on AEW Deal Because of Cody Rhodes

El Phantasmo maintained a stunning performance throughout his New Japan Pro-Wrestling run. He was part of the Bullet Club and enjoyed a hefty deal of action. Following his 2019 debut, he went on to win several accolades, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on three different occasions. He also graced AEW with his presence, with his most recent appearance taking place at the Zero Hour of the Forbidden Door back in June.

After getting ejected from the Bullet Club, El Phantasmo could have been a mainstay at AEW. Sadly, he revealed that none other than former AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes made a silly mistake. While speaking on the Speaking of Strong Style podcast, Phantasmo said that Tony Khan offered him a contract after watching his fight against Rhodes.

“It’s funny, I was texting Cody Rhodes on WhatsApp and he didn’t respond,” Phantasmo explained. “I was like ‘Cody, I kind of need to talk to you,’ and he didn’t respond. Then Rocky [Romero] got the Japanese visa and they’re like, ‘Hey, we want you in Bullet Club.’ I was like ‘Sh-t, I can’t say no to that.’ If you ever talk to Cody, he’s like, ‘I’ve only ever used WhatsApp for one person’ because I don’t have iMessage or anything like that.”

The whole confusion happened because of WhatsApp, as Cody would only talk to Phantasmo on the messaging app. This led to Tony calling Rhodes backstage to clear out the confusion.

“Tony Khan was like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ and I was like, ‘Well, he didn’t respond to me on WhatsApp.’ Then he f-cking called Cody backstage in front of everybody like, ‘What’s going on with ELP?’ I was like, ‘Dude, you didn’t respond on WhatsApp’, he’s like ‘Oh sh-t, you’re the only person I talk to on WhatsApp!’ So he forgot to check it, kind of a funny story.”

Transcription via Haus of Wrestling

Phantasmo could have had a prolific career at AEW. Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes went on to return to WWE and still remains a significant presence as the American Nightmare. What do you think about this story? Let us know in the comments.