Cody Rhodes pre-AEW Dynamite media call highlights

Here are all the biggest takeaways from AEW EVP and in-ring talent Cody Rhodes’ media conference call before the debut of Dynamite on TNT on Wednesday night.

All Elite Wrestling Executive Vice President and in-ring talent, Cody Rhodes spoke with the media ahead of AEW Dynamite‘s TNT debut on Wednesday night. Here are the highlights of the hour-long question-and-answer call.

On any perceived “Wednesday night war” and Kenny Omega’s comments about NXT being developmental vs. AEW featuring stars:

“My father was rather instrumental in bringing the developmental brand up from the OVW/SCW days to bring it into a brand. I will never disparage NXT, I have friends in the locker room,” said Cody, adding “Kenny was just having a bit of fun” and that it was mostly in character in the context of his character on Being the Elite.

Later on, he made it clear that NXT’s move to USA Network on Wednesdayswas a “reactionary” move, done by WWE in response to Dynamite being set for Wednesday nights at that same time. He also explained that AEW won’t be keeping an eye on what WWE or NXT does as a way to make business or creative decisions; “they can watch us, we’re taking care of our own business.”

On the AEW roster:

Cody was asked a few questions about his work with younger roster members, like Darby Allin and, on Wednesday’s Dynamite premiere, Sammy Guevara, as well as the plans to introduce AEW’s younger and lesser-known wrestlers to the audience.

Cody noted that with 52 weeks of television episodes, they will “have time to build programs with young talent and create a story.” He notes that introducing a new roster and sports-centric wrestling is great, but it’s also necessary to have a human connection between the wrestlers and the fans and for the fans tolearn who these people are. He noted that the Road To… series was create in part to introduce these new characters.

He also said that he has “unfinished business” with Allin after their draw earlier this year. But most notably, Cody addressed his match with Guevara and it’s implications. “I would like to make it clear that if Sammy Guevara beats me i am not going to Full Gear to wrestle Chris Jericho,” said Cody; Guevara would take his place.

“We’re not playing old songs, we’re playing new songs,” said Cody in terms of the makeup of the roster and signing former or currently-disgruntled WWE talent. And he’s not concerned about fans getting up to speed with the AEW roster, “We’ve got two hours of moldable clay in Dynamite,” in addition to Being the Elite and the Road To… series allowing them to introduce new stars.

The key will be “to make the human connection … introduce you to the men and women before they step in the ring.” The key, Cody says, to creating that human connection “isn’t giving them an artificial character but showing the real character that they are, but turning that up.”

Cody also noted that when he made the comment that only 40 percent of the AEW roster had been revealed that he’s not quite good at math, but that there are definitely many surprises and additions ahead and that the AAA partnership definitely increases the numbers. When asked about having more black male singles wrestlers, he promised to scout any talent that is recommended to him. He also said that more UK wrestlers should arrive on the roster at some point, citing both the FITE and iTV partnerships and the desire to run shows in the UK in 2020 featuring homegrown talent.

On expectations for Dynamite and his own nerves:

Cody is anxious about Wednesday’s debut: “At this point I’ve had about three sleepless nights in a row,” he revealed, along with “anxiety levels through the roof.” He said that there may be no more important night in pro wrestling history since the debut of Rock ‘n’ Wrestling on MTV in the 1980s, when wrestling was destination viewing, “and we’ve got to keep it destination.”

He said he doesn’t mind being nervous now “as long as they aren’t on my face tomorrow night … Randy Orton taught me [to be a] “red light guy,” when the red light is on I can do just about anything. A lot of people have put a lot of pressure, fairly, on us.” He knows that he, the other EVPs and AEW as a whole has made “a lot of promises, and we’re also the ones in the ring,” so they are confident in their ability to pull it off. “Nervous? Absolutely. Scared? Not one bit. I’m ready for this,” said Cody.

Cody also revealed that the company has an ideal ratings number in mind for Wednesday’s debut (but he wasn’t going to reveal it). He did note that “the response of the live audience will be a good indicator of what the next day will be [the ratings]. Turner has high expectations for this, just as those running AEW do. The goal is to reach the millions of fans who left pro wrestling nearly 20 years ago and make them “returners.” He’s confident that the reaction of the live crowds will be reflected in the ratings the following day.

Cody emphasized that “Wrestling is a buffet … There’s no wrong way to do what we do. The only thing that matters is the fans’ appreciation of it, if they liked it.” He broke down some of the things the company does (BTE is the absurdity, Road To is “old-school, Southern, traditional rasslin, Kenny adding Joshi to the women’s division) and notes that “those styles won’t get watered down.” He added, “there doesn’t have to be one vision; there’s not one fan, there are millions.”

In terms of growing a fanbase, Cody has numerous plans: “Another key to attracting new wrestling fans is extrapolating on the character profiles you have” He cites the Brandon Cutler-MJF Twitter beef over Dungeons and Dragons bringing in new fans as one example. Another aspect is, “revolutionary fans spreading the message … Appeasing the fans who have gotten us to this point and them spreading the message.”

On the Rhodes surname:

Cody confirms that he can use Rhodes name but he won’t use it. He won’t use it “because I got so used to being the American Nightmare Cody in Japan” and liked getting a single name over and creating his own identity. He’s Cody, not “Cody Rhodes” by choice, emphasizing that, “by no means is WWE holding that name hostage.”

On future plans:

Cody says that AEW will be heading west soon, including pay-per-view, which should take place during their fourth big event of this year. He notes that pay-per-views are expensive for fans, so AEW plans to have four or five of them a year, augmented with special events like Fight for the Fallen and doing a tour in the UK.

He was also asked whether AEW would have a War Games-esque special match creation. That led Cody to muse, half-jokingly, that maybe he would buy War Games back from WWE (the match itself was an invention of his father, Dusty). Cody explained that War Games came out of Dusty’s experience of being around wrestling, seeing the Horsemen gain attention as well as their rivals and it was a lightbulb moment. “Maybe the same thing comes to us,” said Cody.

Cody did cite that The Young Bucks had an idea about a “layered Royal Rumble” that eventually became the Casino Battle Royale and noted that “we’d love to come up with some [more] matches of our own.” But while he doesn’t just want to do what his father did, Cody also noted that they have the rights to both Bunkhouse Stampede and BattleBowl if the need them but that he would rather “come up something original.”

On Cain Velasquez:

Cody said he is keeping his eye on Cain Velasquez and what he does in AAA. “If he’d like to come play ball with us, I’d be down,” when asked about whether AEW is pursuing him. Cody put over Velasquez, praising how quickly he took to lucha libre. We will need to keep our eye on Cody keeping his eye on the former UFC star.

On AEW’s strengths:

Cody said that AEW’s “biggest strength is our in-ring action.” He said that there’s a “misconception that you can’t tell stories bell-to-bell, in the ring. That’s our biggest thing we have going for us … It’s a product people want to see. But in-ring action is what sets us apart.”

He also discussed the stats/sports-focused aspect of AEW, something else that sets them apart. Cody confirmed status on the card will in part be determined by “wins and losses plus also, like college football, quality of wins.” That will play “a heavy role,” on top of ratings and fan reactions, toward how they plan out the future of Dynamite.