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Cody Rhodes Reveals Disastrous Meeting Between Tony Khan & Ex-WWE Star

By John Canton • Published 15th June 2024
Cody Rhodes AEW Promo

Cody Rhodes has recalled a time when he set up a meeting in AEW with a top free agent and Tony Khan that didn’t go very well.

As the current Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes is a busy man who is set to defend his championship against AJ Styles in an I Quit Match at the WWE Clash at the Castle PLE on June 15th.

It was over two years ago when Cody Rhodes returned to WWE after helping to launch AEW in January 2019 as one of the company’s Executive Vice Presidents.

During his time in AEW, Cody had a lot of power in terms of bringing in talent and overseeing a lot of things in the company. The company’s owner Tony Khan had the final say on everything, but Cody and the other EVPs The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) and Kenny Omega also helped run All Elite Wrestling.

One of Cody’s best friends in pro wrestling is Matt Cardona, who is the former Zack Ryder in WWE. The two men came up in WWE together at the same time and remain close to this day in their late 30s.

While appearing on Matt Cardona’s Major Wrestling Figure Podcast which also features Brian Myers & Mark Sterling, the “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes told a story about wanting Cardona to wear an American Nightmare jacket and how it involved Cardona meeting Tony Khan in AEW as well.

“At the time, when I was working for AEW, [I] had asked Matt if he wanted to be part of a tag team situation with me. Do something together, and then I think we worked it out, we talked about — what was it? Three or five shows? It wasn’t a long-term commitment, but I wanted to bring him in. And I wanted my friend — as you heard on the introduction earlier, my [does air quotes] ‘best friend’ — I wanted him to be part of what I was doing. WWE and him had parted ways at that point, so man, what a free agent that’s out there. This is just a win-win.”

Cody went on to say that the best place he could get a meeting for Cardona was for them to have an afterparty.

Cody: “We should have flown to Matt, or we should have done it in an office somewhere. The setting was not great.

Matt: “I thought it was going to be a private meeting. The whole roster [was there].”

Cody: “You had every right to think it would be private. And it should have been private. But this was—”

Cody Rhodes Was Thrown Off By What Matt Cardona Said To Tony Khan

The story continued with Cody Rhodes telling the story of what Matt Cardona told Tony Khan.

“It was so insanely awkward for such a period of time. Because I noticed — you know when Matt gets nervous, the shoulders tense up and his face gets a little more red than it already is? You can feel his energy getting nervous, so I noticed he was a little nervous about this meeting, which, whatever. I’m not judging that by any means, but he hasn’t told me anything that he’s going to say. Of course, I trust my ‘best friend’ is going to be just fine with this and I don’t have to do anything besides [do the introduction].”

“This is how the conversation opened up, and if I could’ve taken a friggin’ back bump on the cement, I would’ve taken a back bump, it was so shocking.”

“Tony starts talking, and before long, Matt goes, ‘Well, let me stop you right there.’ So he’s already got a bullish, fortune favors the bold approach to this. He goes, ‘Let me stop you right there. I want you to know that I don’t want to be here to be ‘Cody’s friend. I want you to know that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a Nightmare Family jacket.’ This is happening in real time to me, and this is the guy that I suggested come in as my friend!”

That led to AEW’s boss Tony Khan saying: “Oh, okay.” Cody added that they “probably sat there for another hour, and nothing of substance was said because it just tore me to shreds.”

The interview featured a lot of laughing as you can see in the clip below.

H/T Wrestlezone