AEW TNT Champion Cody Rhodes appeared on The Rich Eisen Show earlier this week to hype AEW’s one-year anniversary. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On why AEW works: “Authenticity. That’s really — when I get around individuals, sometimes like the WarnerMedia marketing team or new people to wrestling, they want to know what makes us different. That’s the No. 1 thing I’ll say. What I’ll say to extrapolate authenticity for a wrestler, it’s these characters.”
On fans making connections with wrestling characters: “Back in the 80s and 70s, when wrestling fans were rabid for wrestling, you’ll hear people say all the time, ‘Well, it’s because they thought it was real. It was suspension of disbelief.’ And I disagree with that notion, especially if you look at some of the silly stuff that Ric Flair, and Dusty [Rhodes], and Hulk [Hogan] were doing. I actually think it was the connection made to the characters, and the only way you can reach across the barricade and actually connect in a way that they want to see you win or they root for you to lose is being authentic; in your interview, authentic in your ring work. And that’s what we have that separates us from everybody.”
On their first anniversary: “It’s one year of Dynamite, and we’re doing something very special in that all the titles will be on the line. All the gold. And that’s just so rare in wrestling. You got a great women’s championship match in [Hikaru] Shida vs. Big Swole. The World Championship on the line, Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer. Myself defending the prettiest championship in the business in a total mismatch. Orange Cassidy is outsized and outgunned, but all the respect in the world for him. Plus, it’s an anniversary show. It’s got to be filled with all the bells and whistles and all the surprises of great American wrestling.”
