As we gear up for this Saturday’s AEW Double Or Nothing pay-per-view, Chris Van Vliet spoke to Cody Rhodes about all things All Elite. Cody discusses when the World Championship will be unveiled, how far ahead AEW is already booking and much more.
Chris sent the following transcribed highlights from the episode to eWrestlingNews. You can hear the full episode on YouTube, embedded above.
Cody says AEW on TNT will likely be a 2-hour live weekly show:
“It’s really likely the show is going to be 2 hours. That’s the sweet spot. In terms of the schedule we’ll find out probably within the next few months for sure and it will be in a great spot to be in prime time on TNT, they’ve really set us up. Now you’ve got to go deliver the bell to bells and the sports-centric. Another thing that is really cool is you’ll be able to find out per market where we’re going to be all around, this isn’t going to be something that is just stationed in one spot. This is a touring brand. We’re really, no pun intended, going all in on the concept of it and it’s so special because we aren’t doing a live event system so when we come we’re bringing our absolute best from match quality to star quality. I feel like I’m giving away a lot here. Did Tony already say it? It’s 2 hours, live.”
“I actually feel really good. It was a shock being let go by them but it’s not the end of the world. It’s crazy because I dedicated 5 years of my life to them and I was injured last year for a good chunk of it. I got injured July 27th and had surgery August 3rd and I still managed to work over 115 shows. I’m an optimist. I truly enjoyed working for the company, I was able to travel to 47 out of 50 states. I got to see all kinds of different towns that I never imagined.”
Cody talks the AEW World Championship
“I’ve said the title and I’ve said championship in our little circle now and everyone is really adamant that we say “belt”. On Saturday there is the chance that you might see the greatest World Championship Title that has ever been created and there’s also a chance that I might have shown Chris a picture of it before this interview. He might have got a sneak peek. It’s really great. Every day the progress shots have been cool and I’ll be able to see it. I’m not guaranteeing it will be there on Saturday, (Cody winks to the camera) but that was a wink, and I’m excited about it. But actually the stakes of the Battle Royale and getting that opportunity to potentially wrestle for the World Championship and to wrestle for the World Championship, every match has high stakes placed on it.”
Cody on how far in advance AEW is planning ahead creatively:
“I’d say we have a pretty good bearing on 6 months to a year. Exactly that. Long form storytelling is great in every medium whether it is film or TV or whatever it may be to know and work backward. We’ve got a good, what would I call it, like a syllabus? There’s a syllabus to what we’re going to do but one thing that Matt Jackson is really good about pointing out is some things just catch fire and one thing that we want to do differently than any other wrestling that’s out there is you can’t deny something when it catches. So if something catches, we’re going to push that, we’re going to promote that. If an individual catches, we’re going to push that, we’re going to promote that. And that all starts at Double or Nothing.”
Cody on surprises at Double Or Nothing:
“I think what we have ready to go is the best wrestling show ever. I really do. It’s a wrestling show, by wrestlers, for the fans. It’s 100% fan service. It wouldn’t be that if there weren’t surprises.”
Cody on if he still has a good relationship with WWE
“I would think I do but it’s dawning on me that I likely don’t if that makes any sense. I would think that we are still. I learned a lot there, I had a great time, I met my wife and I also got to wrestle some of the best. The Undertaker was still pretty active, I got to be in there with Taker. Shawn Michaels was active, I got to be in there with Shawn and Hunter himself. But I don’t know maybe I’m not too well received. We were kind of always the enemy, me and my family. We were like the bastard family of wrestling. Dusty was always an individual, he never really fit into the corporate structure. He did great there and they really took care of him but I think we were always kind of the enemy.”
Cody says Double Or Nothing will be Dustin’s last match:
“I would think this is his last match. I would think it is. Now that has not been stated and we’re not putting some sort of element like that on it because that’s his decision and his world and one of the big things about this match is it’s really now or never. People wanted this match 3 or 4 years ago a lot more than I wanted it mainly because it was time for us to go our separate ways. We’re solo acts and we had a really great run as a team but it was time for us to go our separate ways. And now as we got to this event and it kind of fell into place the way that it did, there are so many elements of it that are real and that’s such a great thing to bring to the screen and it beams across but I would think this is his last match. But by no means does he have that pressure on him, he’s just getting older and he’s actually said himself that he’d like to slow down so we’ll see.”
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