Brandi Rhodes Reveals Storyline Ideas She’s Turned Down in the Past, on Not Setting Out to Check Boxes for AEW’s Roster

– Bleacher Report‘s Jonathan Snowden recently interviewed AEW executive Brandi Rhodes. Below are some highlights.

Brandi Rhodes on having perspective on developing a character: “There have been for myself at times in wrestling, times when I had to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I’m not really comfortable with that’ or, ‘That doesn’t work for me.’ It’s interesting to see how a lot of people don’t see the other side of the coin. Since they haven’t been there. Someone might suggest your character say something that they’d never say.”

On running things by Cody Rhodes: “It doesn’t occur to them that there are people who think differently about something, from another perspective. I think it probably will be helpful to have me there. I’m also someone who is always looking at things from different angles. There’s always two answers. Cody and I run a lot of things by each other. We’re able to help each other see things differently than we would singularly.”

Rhodes on creative ideas she turned down in the past: “Ideas that made it seem like I wasn’t particularly faithful to my husband. That’s an area I don’t like to go. It’s just not for me. And the fans, they know us. They know Cody and I, and they like our relationship. So, I would never want to kind of scoff in their faces and make it seem like it’s something that it’s not.”

Rhodes on how AEW didn’t set out to check boxes with the company’s talent-diverse roster: “It’s not something we set out to do. We never said, ‘We need to check these boxes.’ That’s not a good way to find the best talent, in my opinion. As long as you keep in mind that what you’re looking for is the best person, regardless of anything else, you’re going to find the best of the best. And I think that’s what we’ve got here. In our case, we were very, very lucky. A lot of talent just kind of fell in our lap, which is wonderful when you don’t have to search very hard for such talented people.”

“Our agenda was always to have an open mind about everything. When you have someone like Sonny Kiss, who is very much on the surface who he is, there is no way we’re going to say, ‘Maybe he should be different, do different moves or act a different way.’ He is who he is, and who he is is perfect. He’s very talented, and we absolutely love having Sonny as part of the roster.”