During an interview with F4WOnline.com’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Kenny Omega gave his thoughts on Cody Rhodes leaving AEW:
“Everyone was shocked. We all know when our deals our up, especially the EVPs, we know when our deals up. In the case of the Bucks, when their options kick in. For myself, I don’t have a deal like that. I’m up next year, just straight up, done. I would have to re-sign a new [contract], there is no option. We knew Cody’s, much like the Bucks, it was that time. We would hear that there was possibly some difficulty with the negotiation or whatever, but you never think it’s going in that direction where the talent is going to opt for leaving, especially, when this thing first started, the most passionate person of our revolution, the most passionate person of creating the ‘us vs. them’ mentality was Cody. It was strange for him to just choose to up and walk away.”
“I would always encourage everyone, in wrestling and life, if your work isn’t fulfilling and making you happy, you really should look for opportunities elsewhere, in a place where you can feel creatively free and a place where you feel your work is being appreciated and fulfilled. I’m guessing that, knowing Cody as well as I know him, I don’t think it was an issue of money. I don’t think it was Tony not shelling out enough cash to keep him invested with the company.”
“Maybe, in the end, we had the Bucks and their vision, my vision, and Cody’s vision. All of our visions are different. I would say mine was more similar to what the Bucks had envisioned and Cody’s was much different. You’re going to get that when finally, you’ve committed your life to an industry and a business and finally, someone goes, ‘you’ve done this job, all your life, you’ve been raised in this business with these shackles on you, to a degree, by someone or something, now those are off. You have carte blanche. What do you want to do?’ I understand there might be some heartbreak if you are promised that, or told that, and it doesn’t come to fruition. Though my professional relationship with Cody was great, he’s not a guy that I go and get a Diet Pepsi with on my off time. I don’t know how he personally feels about anything. I can only guess as to why he would leave and I think that he saw it with his deal up, as an opportunity to investigate something within wrestling or life in general that would bring him more happiness.”
“When Cody had his way of going about things, I wasn’t sure how to follow up with that, nor was I interested. There was Kenny doing his thing, the Bucks doing their thing, and the Codyverse over there, doing whatever it is that he does and then there’s the stuff that Tony does. Eventually, as a lot of fans now know, essentially, it’s Tony [Khan]’s show. Of course, he’s always going to listen to our advice and take our suggestions to heart, but AEW is very much Tony’s thing and baby. We’re there to support it in any way that we can. It’s very possible that this current version of AEW wasn’t a good fit for Cody and to Cody.”
