Cody Rhodes Clarifies Criticism of The Young Bucks After Backlash

Cody Rhodes made shockwaves with his return to WWE, but he had a memorable run in AEW before parting ways with the company. However, his most recent remarks about The Elite sparked outrage among fans and now he has clarified his criticism.

While speaking in a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Cody Rhodes reflected on his tenure with AEW. Though initially reluctant to criticize the company, Rhodes admitted his departure was marred by “petty squabbles” behind the scenes, which he described as “terrible.”

Rhodes pointed out that The Young Bucks’ account of AEW’s creation in their book, while technically accurate, could be misinterpreted to portray him negatively. Rhodes admitted he disliked the fact that The Young Bucks mentioned he was the last to sign, a detail some AEW defenders use to diminish his role in the promotion’s origin. He claimed that he was actually the first to meet Tony Khan during a vetting process for all of them.

“I hated that in The Young Bucks’ book they said I was last to the signing. Because that’s a big thing. Some of the AEW defenders who don’t realize they’re turning people off to their product more than they’re turning people on, that’s one of the things that people always cite ‘Oh, he was last, he wasn’t that big a deal to the origin.’ No, this guy here who’s off camera was the first person to ever meet Tony and he met him in a vetting process for all of us.

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So yes, I guess I was the last and yes, I had different thoughts and it’s not incorrect at all what they said [that I was physcially the last person to sign]. Yeah, it’s not incorrect but I was just in on it as well as anybody else. That’s a little thing that when I write my book I get to tell [the story].”

While speaking during a new interview with ComicBook, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about the creation of AEW. Tony Khan revealed that his first conversation regarding the future of All Elite Wrestling took place with The Young Bucks‘ Matt Jackson and his wife Dana Massie. He added that he met Cody Rhodes after his conversation with the Young Bucks, when the vetting process began.

“It was a few months after my first conversation with Kevin Reilly that I had my first conversation with Matt and his wife Dana. The first person I talked to out of The Elite was Matt and Dana. They called me on July 3rd, 2018.

I think Nick thought, ‘This guy’s crazy.’ Everybody’s heard charlatans come out of the woodwork in wrestling, and they’d seen a lot of that, and I don’t think those guys were going to take it seriously, but something about my approach intrigued Matt. Honestly, I think it was the fact that it’s coming from the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars is what it was. I think it gave us a lot of credibility.

After that I met with Cody’s agent, Brian Wittenstein, because Matt reached out to Cody and said this was a great call. I talked to Matt and Nick together, and then met Brian, and then Brian introduced me to Cody and we had all these great talks.”

Rhodes responded to a post on Twitter about what Tony Khan had to say and shared his thoughts. He clarified that it was definitely Matthew who met Tony Khan first and that what he said was consistent with the facts.

”I said he met Tony first. Exactly what he said. In the vetting/feeling out process. Stories are the same, nobody is mad at anybody.”

Cody Rhodes also made it clear that he will never cheer against AEW no matter what. Nevertheless, Rhodes will likely want to put all of this behind him and not bother talking about AEW Anymore, for his own sake.

What are your thoughts on Cody Rhodes’ comments about his departure from AEW and his role in the company’s creation? How do you feel about the clarification from both Cody and Tony Khan regarding the early days of AEW? Share your opinions and reflections on this situation in the comments below!