Cody Rhodes left AEW on February 15 and has been rumored to sign with WWE.
Cody Rhodes has reportedly signed with WWE per Mike Johnson of PWInsider (h/t Wrestling Inc). Per the report, the contract was signed 10-14 days ago and is expected to appear on the Raw brand.
Rhodes is rumored to have a WrestleMania match against Rollins. Rollins (the character) continues to desperately earn a spot at WrestleMania, but behind the scenes WWE was reportedly holding out hope that they could get a deal done with Rhodes in time for a WrestleMania program against Seth “Freakin’” Rollins. Monday night on Raw, Rollins lost a main event match against Kevin Owens for his spot at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas.
Cody and Brandi Rhodes shocked the wrestling world on February 15 when they announced they were leaving AEW. Despite appearing regularly on AEW programming, in addition to being involved with WarnerMedia properties “Go Big Show” and “Rhodes to the Top,” the Rhodes made a swift exit that caught many by surprise.
Cody Rhodes and AEW President Tony Khan reportedly hit a snag when it came to issues in pay, and their relationship had been compromised by Rhodes’ reported loss of booking power.
Rhodes’ AEW exit is eerily similar to his WWE departure, when he abruptly left the company in May of 2016 after feeling overlooked and undervalued. Similar to his AEW exit, Rhodes announced the news in a heartfelt post on Twitter, though his comments toward WWE at the time were far less amicable than that of his AEW divorce.
“I had pitched to every writer on the staff like a door-to-door salesman on “how” & “why” & “when”?” said the former Stardust in an exasperated 2016 tweet explaining his departure.
“Believe me, there are many of those who sought to help me (Brian James, Nick, Faz, J Russo, Dave K, JBL & Cole for letting me go wild on their YouTube show and a few others I’m sure) but for all that, both “head writers” of RAW & Smackdown (one pretending to be Brian Gewirtz and the other too busy hitting on developmental divas) continued to not return my pitches or e-mails, and in face-to-face encounters tried to big league me by pretending to be on their clearly powered-off laptops? [sic]”
Now leaving the company he helped found as the odd-man out among the Executive Vice Presidents, Rhodes once again finds himself in a position with something to prove to the wrestling world. The last time he found himself in a similar position in 2016, it ultimately led to the historic All In pay-per-view in 2018, and the creation of AEW the following year.
As the first AEW-to-WWE defector, and AEW’s first major star to jump ship to WWE, Rhodes’ signing will be a fascinating case study of how an AEW talent will be portrayed on WWE television. With Rhodes essentially falling into WWE’s lap, this case study will come much earlier than the 2024 timeframe where top stars like MJF will be seeking new deals.
All signs point to Rhodes being booked favorably in WWE. There’s an endless list of WWE Superstars who were able to make themselves even bigger stars elsewhere—whether it’s Hulk Hogan, Drew McIntyre or even Brock Lesnar, to name a few. Most of them earned Vince McMahon’s respect in doing so, and were welcomed back to WWE with open arms no matter how acrimoniously they left the company.
Rhodes being promoted as a major star in WWE would also be a positive sign to potential free agents from AEW. Not only would these free agents be looking to replicate Rhodes’ would-be success in WWE, but they could also make more money with WWE coming off its first-ever billion-dollar year. In addition, by 2024, WWE will have theoretically received a television rights increase from a major broadcast network or streaming service—if not sold altogether—giving the industry leader even more funds to entice free agents.
Rhodes’ deal may or may not reset the salary structure in WWE, which would be a welcomed change based on the amount of money WWE makes compared to what it pays its Superstars. Last year, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc) reported top stars Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns were the highest-paid WWE Superstars with a salary of $5 million per year.
To compare, the NFL, NBA and MLB all pay its players around 50% of league revenues. With WWE reporting $1.095 billion in revenue in 2021, if it paid all of its contracted talent on the main roster a top-tier $5 million salary (they’re not), that would still only represent 40% of revenues for WWE talent. There’s a lot of uncertainty as to who is making what in WWE, but the actual percentage of wrestler salaries compared to WWE revenues is far, far lower.
Cody Rhodes in WWE during WrestleMania season allows the promotion to capitalize on arguably the biggest wrestling news story to date during its busiest season of the year. With AEW dominating buzz and momentum through a handful of high-profile signings of late, all will take is one big fish—whether it be Cody, Steve Austin or both—for WWE to seize momentum back in its favor.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alfredkonuwa/2022/03/18/cody-rhodes-reportedly-signs-with-wwe/