WNS Home
WNS on X WNS on BlueSky WNS on Discord WNS on Facecbook WNS on Instagram WNS on Threads WNS on Google News Navigate up
RSS Feed

Cody Rhodes Recalls Seeing Fans Burning His AEW Shirts After His WWE Return

Posted By: Guy Incognito on Apr 30, 2022

Cody Rhodes recently spoke on the After The Bell with Corey Graves podcast, where he spoke about taking his time in WWE originally for granted.

“At WWE I was spoiled, I started right in front of thousands and thousands of people.” “The lights are down, the spotlight is on the ring, it’s WWE, the place is going nuts and I felt like I was taking it for granted. Go to the independents and even with the large crowd, independents at the time were booming and they’re doing good again right now, but you did get the opportunity to do these meet and greets, that’s a big part of independent wrestling. To me, the match was almost secondary, I wanted to meet every fan.”

“That’s why I started wearing a suit and tie everywhere I went, it became second nature to me. I wanted to meet them and I never felt like I really crossed the isle, I never felt like I really met all these fans over the years because you see the power of television when you travel around and do that loop like I did. That’s also where I developed what I would call a bad habit and a habit that a lot of people disagree with. I will stay out there until I meet every single fan, until I take every single picture, until I sign every type of autograph. It’s because that’s what brought me to the dance.”

Cody also spoke about the AEW fans and their reaction to his departure.

“It initially was unanimously positive.” “I feel like that fanbase, that divide that exists amongst all the different bubbles, if there was any negativity, well I can put some of the blame on my shoulders. Again, the last shows I had done before taking this WWE return, I’m taking little fun and pod-shots talking smack which is what wrestlers do. I think sometimes the fans attach themselves to those statements and forget that we are in the realm of entertainment. I added to the tribalism myself so I can’t necessarily get mad at it when I see it.”

“It was unique to see a lot of people burning like my old AEW shirts which was a trend for a few days on social so it felt like you were kind of leaving a sports team. It didn’t break my heart but I thought it was odd because the place doesn’t exist without me. There’s other people that needed to be there for it to exist for sure but I am one of the people that that place exists because of. AEW exists partially because of me. I saw a few times the term ‘sold out’ and I thought like you have this, it’s great.”

⚡ Explore WNS


Jump To Comments
Load Popular Hashtags
Popular Tags

Popular Articles
Discord
Join WNS Discord

IWC ChatBot

Become WNS Member

Member Login

📣 WNS Member Discussion

⚡ Events

AEW Dynamite

Chicago, Illinois

Jul. 30th 2025

#dynamite

AEW Collision

Chicago, Illinois

Jul. 31st 2025

#collision

WWE Friday Night SmackDown

Newark, New Jersey

Aug. 1st 2025

#smackdown

WWE SummerSlam 2025 - Saturday

East Rutherford, New Jersey

Aug. 2nd 2025

#summerslam

WWE SummerSlam 2025 - Sunday

East Rutherford, New Jersey

Aug. 3rd 2025

#summerslam

WWE Monday Night RAW

New York City, New York

Aug. 4th 2025

#raw

AEW Dynamite

Cleveland, Ohio

Aug. 6th 2025

#dynamite

WWE NXT Live

Davenport, Florida

Aug. 8th 2025

#nxt

WWE NXT Live

Venice, Florida

Aug. 9th 2025

#nxt