Eric Bischoff Comments On Cody Rhodes Leaving AEW

During his most recent 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff commented on the recent news that Cody Rhodes has departed All Elite Wrestling.

Rhodes and AEW were unable to reach a new agreement following the expiry of his contract and thus he decided to leave the company with his wife Brandi. It is now speculated the former AEW star will return to WWE in time for WrestleMania.

"I’m not surprised – not nearly as surprised as everybody else is, and it’s not because I have any inside information or speak to Cody. Cody and I text back and forth every couple of months maybe. Look, I was more surprised that Cody left WWE. Let’s think about that for a minute. You’re 30 years old and on the biggest stage in the world in your particular industry. Yeah, you might be saddled with a character or gimmick you don’t like, but guess what? You’re making damn good money that you could probably retire on in five to ten years if you’re smart. But he was willing to walk away from that because he wasn’t satisfied. It reminded me of his dad. When the news hit that Cody left WWE, I sent him a text telling him how proud I was of him. Subsequently, Cody called me and I was in Los Angeles on business. We spoke briefly about it and I said, ‘Cody, your dad would be so proud of you.’ Dusty was a lot like that. He was never satisfied and always wanted something bigger and wanted something more. He believed in himself, and Dusty was willing to walk away if need be. When I heard that Cody left WWE and had that conversation, I just told him how proud I was."

"When this happened, from my perspective, despite Tony coming out and saying I’m gonna try not to make the same mistakes WCW has made – I think Cody was probably sitting around at one point looking at the landscape of where AEW was going and it didn’t coincide with the vision he originally bought into, and it wasn’t going to get him where he wanted to go and made a decision. I guess I’d bet a lot of money that Tony offered up a pretty substantial amount of money that any average person walking the face of this country could retire on in a very short period of time. But Cody made a decision that was different. He made a decision that took a lot of guts. I can’t tell you how proud I am of him for putting his family first and putting his confidence on the line the way that he did. None of us know for sure until after it happens, but if he ends up in WWE, I’m relatively certain his future is very secure. But it’s not even about the money. It’s about staying true to yourself and doing what you feel is right for you and your family in the long term. That sounds like it would be easy, but it’s not….Cody is still so young, and to be able to make that big of a decision and put himself out there – you know he’s gonna get criticized and there are gonna be people who wanna bury him for doing it. Cody is gonna take some heat, but he had the balls to do what was best for him and his family. I don’t know how you don’t admire that."