Ricky Saints Addresses AEW Heat Over Friendship With Cody Rhodes

Ricky Saints just wants to be there for his friend.

Even before Ricky Saints signed with WWE, he made sure he was on hand for the biggest moments of Cody Rhodes’ career. This included attending the 2023 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 40 while still under contract with AEW.

His attendance at the Rumble quickly grabbed headlines as Saints was spotted walking into the venue with Rhodes, sparking speculation he was looking to get out of AEW and join his friend in WWE.

In an interview several months after the event, Ricky Starks revealed that an unnamed AEW star had confronted him over the visit, claiming it “wasn’t a good look.”

Fast forward to 2025, and Saints is now signed with WWE, but that doesn’t mean comments about his friendship with Rhodes have gone away.

During an appearance on What Do You Wanna Talk About? with the American Nightmare, Saints was asked whether he felt there were negative consequences for him regarding their friendship. In response, the NXT star made it clear he had little time for such claims.

“I will never let somebody weaponize a friendship against me,” he stated firmly. “This is the thing like, I don’t have a lot of friends, so to speak, the people that have shown me being seen, being heard, being understood… I have such an endearing and deep love for you as a person because of what you have shown and reciprocated back”.

Saints went on to admit that some fans will dismiss his skills because he’s friends with Rhodes, but fired back that he’s more than good enough to stand on his own.

“I already knew being so public about an affection for a friend, especially in your position, was always going to be ‘That’s just Cody’s friend.’ That is. That’s cool, if that’s what you think of me, perfect,” Saints said. “But when I get in the ring, when I get on the microphone, you don’t, no one will ever say that sh*t to me”.

Is Cody Rhodes About To Turn Heel?

On July 8, Cody Rhodes sparked some speculation of his own with a somewhat cryptic post on social media. Seemingly without any prompting, Rhodes wrote, “Don’t flinch. Thank you all for riding with me all this time. Love you for it. Excited for what we do next.”

The comments came just days after Rhodes had claimed he’s coming to the end of his time as a babyface, hinting that a heel turn could be on the way.

Rhodes is set to challenge John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam in a huge WrestleMania rematch.

H/t to WrestlingNews.Co