AEW TNT Champion Cody was interviewed by TalkSport where he talks about his upcoming TNT Championship match with Sonny Kiss. The match will be taking place tonight at AEW’s Fight For The Fallen at 8pm(EST) on TNT. Cody also talked about the Wednesday Night Wars and other things.
Cody’s thoughts on the Wednesday Night Wars:
“I think early on we were looking at it, and there’s really that specialness with X amount of wrestling fans tuning in on a Wednesday night. As a big wrestling fan, what does that mean to me etc. I think now with where we’re at and as we’re gearing towards our next big pay-per-view, and we’re gearing towards Fight for the Fallen, we really have to put our focus on having the best show. It’s really easy to get caught up in the weeds with like ‘for X amount of weeks we beat WWE in the ratings,’ or get into this wild demo discussion – if you ever catch me tweeting about the demos, please just delete my account.”
“And it’s not wrong, I respect everyone that is bringing it up. And I don’t make the top 50, that’s the thing. People spam me and the management core; Showbuzz Daily, they make the top 50. We don’t make the lists. So, if we’re ahead of your favorite or your favorite shows, spam them! [laughs]. I don’t know what to tell you! I think instead of romanticizing about the amount of people that are watching, I think the show has to be about getting better. I think there’s only been twice where I thought ‘I didn’t like the end of that show.’ I don’t think we ended better than last week. And that’s the goal, having the absolute best wrestling show we can possibly have with a disciplined and non-hot shot approach, but keeping the spontaneity, keeping the fire there and focus on long term plans and things of that nature which we’ve done. I’m so proud of everybody. The Bucks, Kenny and Tony, of course. Jericho has been a really wonderful leader behind the scenes and in front of the camera. Then you’ve got guys now entering their second year of the company, the Jungle Boys and MJF’s, they’re no longer these freshman on the varsity squad, they’re growing. And I love seeing that.”
His focus on not getting too caught up on the ratings:
“But my focus, I don’t get caught in the weeds. Thursday is the day all that data comes down and you look at everything. Minute-by-minute, did someone tune out here? You have to ask yourself, why did they tune out? Is it an anomaly? Is it a pattern? Again, we have great people flanking us who put this all in black and white on a grid for us so that we can be accountable. if you’re not drawing viewers, you have to at least address the problem. That’s the one day it gets really analytical and looking into the data. But for me, creatively and as a competitor and artist, it’s about having the best show, something that people talk about evokes emotion, creates memories and brings them joy during this period.”
Cody’s upcoming match with Sonny Kiss at Fight For The Fallen:
“With Sonny Kiss, I don’t determine the open challenge opponents. That’s Arn and Tony Khan. It’s an open challenge, it’s not rank determined or whatever – it’s an open challenge. I consider this a great opportunity to finally see what Sonny Kiss is all about. Seeing him in tags and singles with Peter Avalon as far back as the original Fight for the Fallen, but Sonny is an incredible athlete and we wanted to have incredible athlete’s as part of this roster. The most high-tech, if you can put it that way, of wrestling styles and I wanted the world to see that.”
Cody Rhodes on responding to the Twitter user who used homophobic slurs towards Sonny Kiss:
“I got a little hot under the collar online the other day and it’s one of those things I talked to Sonny about yesterday. I said ‘what would you like me to do? I would like to say something, but this is your call,’ and he was supportive of me saying what I said.”
Check Out: Cody Rhodes Rips A Fan Who Uses Gay Slur In Reference to Sonny Kiss
“And that’s one incident. It’s amazing to see much of that still existing in the world, but if we can be a bright spot in the world showcasing the best wrestlers no matter what their lifestyle, no matter what choices; if we can showcase great wrestling amongst what really is today’s world, which is incredibly diverse – nothing is like it was – I think if we can do that it’s incredibly positive. Sonny is a great wrestler and I’m just looking forward to the audience hopefully seeing a totally different side to Sonny like they got to see with Jungle Boy in the very first TNT title defense.”
