Cody Rhodes Says There Was Plan To Wrestle Sting In AEW
Cody Rhodes left AEW with fans turning against him, but had he stayed it would have led to one of the all-time dream matches with The American Nightmare facing off against his hero Sting.
After leaving WWE in 2016, Cody Rhodes traveled the globe establishing himself as one of the greatest workers as he took on challenges in England, Europe, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Ring of Honor.
On January 1st, 2019 it was announced that Cody Rhodes, along with The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega would be working as Executive Vice Presidents for a new promotion called AEW.
Rhodes quickly established himself as one of the company’s most popular talents, destroying a throne ahead of a battle against his brother Dustin Rhodes ensured a strong bond with fans eager for something new and different to WWE.
But toward the end of 2021 AEW fans began to antagonize Rhodes and his all American good guy character.
During this time discussions were held to create a potential storyline which would see Rhodes turn heel, and now the Three-Time AEW TNT Champion has shocked fans by admitting this would have led to a match against one of the most iconic names in the industry, Sting.
The American Nightmare was interviewed by ComicBook to discuss the new WWE documentary showcasing his return but was also asked about how close he came to turning heel in AEW.
Rhodes shared how had he stayed in AEW the plan was for him to have a match against one of wrestling biggest icons, Sting.
“I was going to wrestle Sting.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever shared that with anybody and nothing was on paper or anything like that. But I can say I got a tremendous offer from AEW creatively, financially, the full package. You won’t hear me say anything bad about AEW or Tony (Khan) or my time there.
It was a tremendous offer, but the offer wasn’t right for me. What I wanted to get back to was the first goal that I ever had (winning the WWE Championship). But yeah, that probably would’ve been the endgame. That’s what had been discussed, was to get one (match) with one of my heroes, Sting.
“And it’s one of those things, you can wrestle one of your heroes or you can work with one of your heroes and he can be the head of creative (Paul Levesque), you can’t have it all.”
“And I think one thing I do pride myself on as a wrestler is I will make a decision. It might be a left turn, it might be exactly where you think I’m going, but I will make a decision. I will not get stuck because I felt like I’d been stuck early in my career and never want to be that way again.”
Cody Rhodes Faces Nightmare Beast On Path To Chasing WWE Dream
WWE’s newest documentary American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes is released on 31st July and looks back across the time Cody Rhodes spent working independent shows, his return to WWE, and the desire to become the companies main Champion and honor his father’s legacy.
But before Rhodes can find his way back to challenging Roman Reigns for a second time the former Stardust must once again try to tame a beast.
Next Saturday Brock Lesnar will be standing opposite the Grandson of a plumber with the pair level at one win each during a feud which started on Raw the night after WrestleMania 39.
H/t to ComicBook.com