The departure of Cody and Brandi Rhodes from AEW has left wrestling fans in a state of shock and also disbelief, feeling that Cody would eventually re-sign with AEW and resume his duties with the organization. However, that was not the case, as Cody and Brandi made their exit from the company on Tuesday morning.
For more information regarding their departure, please click the following links below before continuing:
- Cody & Brandi Rhodes Leaving AEW, Tony Khan Thanks Them – eWrestlingNews.com
- Update On Cody Rhodes Reportedly Being In Talks With WWE (ewrestlingnews.com)
In a follow-up to what we’ve learned about their departure in the link(s) above, we have a new report from Fightful that provides additional backstage information surrounding the decision made for Cody and Brandi Rhodes to leave AEW.
Cody has been working with AEW under a “handshake agreement” with AEW President Tony Khan since December 2021 after his initial AEW contract expired. Rhodes was no longer on the AEW payroll and was appearing on AEW television as a favor to Khan and to finish up an angle over the AEW TNT Championship with Sammy Guevara. According to sources, Cody was looking for a “big money deal” from AEW and those terms could not be reached by both parties.
Once this happened, the AEW locker room who was clued in felt this was the end of the Cody Rhodes era in AEW and that a departure was imminent. Despite receiving offers from WWE, Cody claimed that any talks were indeed just rumors that were “spun” up.
One important and interesting note is that WWE officials knew the announcements were coming before 10AM EST by Cody and Brandi Rhodes, and also Tony Khan. Multiple sources have confirmed that Cody and WWE have been in talks. Word spread to the AEW locker room about Cody and Brandi’s departure about 15 minutes before the announcement was made on social media.
Cody has been very distant from the AEW locker room over the past year and wasn’t as connected to the locker room as he once was when AEW started in 2019. Cody was also distant from other AEW EVPs (The Young Bucks/Kenny Omega), which was a red flag that sparked there was some friction going on behind the scenes throughout 2021.
Cody Rhodes was one of the founding members of AEW and signed with the company at its inception in 2019, and he was routinely one of AEW’s top marquee stars. His wife Brandi Rhodes was also signed to the company as their Chief Brand Officer and also appeared as an onscreen talent. She is being replaced by Amanda Huber as CBO.
