Cody Rhodes Says He Failed As an EVP In AEW, Is Learning Behind the Scenes In WWE

Cody Rhodes believes that he was not ultimately successful in his EVP role in AEW, but he wants to learn how to work backstage in WWE. Rhodes was an Executive Vice President during his time in AEW, and while Kenny Omega has praised Rhodes for his work in building the company’s infrastructure, Rhodes sees it differently on the whole.

Rhodes spoke about the matter on the latest episode of What Do You Wanna Talk About? with his guest Kit Wilson. He noted that he believes that he failed as EVP there but went to go to WWE Headquarters to see what it would be like working there after his in-ring career ends. You can see the highlights below:

On His Time As an EVP In AEW:

“I wanted to go to the office to see what life would be like at the office, at WWE HQ. I had a career before as an executive vice president. I failed at it, but — had some success along the way but failed. Ultimately learned a great deal from said failure, as we do, that’s what we need.”

On Learning From WWE Executives:

“But I wanted to go. I said, ‘Ah man, I’m going to treat it like I’m going there for a job. I’ll write a sample format. I’m going to write a full tech format, times and everything. And not a dreamer one. I’ll take what we have now and put one together. I’m going to go and share that with Bruce Prichard and the creative team. And I’m going to sit with them. And I’m going to meet with Lee Fitting and his team. I’m going to meet these departments.’ And not the, ‘Hi, I’m such and such.’ Not that. We can do that in three minutes. I’m going to actually, ‘No, what can I really do for you?’ Like, ‘Community, what can I really do for you?’ Do I fit in anywhere? Because I got the bug.”

“But anyway, I didn’t want to be unprepared… so I reached out to as many people as I could on the roster. I said, ‘What’s an idea for you? What’s something you want to do?’ Some people called me, ‘I got this.’ Some people didn’t reply, some sent a nice text with a simplified note. And I thought, ‘Okay, I’m ready. I’m ready if Ed or somebody asks me a question’… You [Wilson] didn’t send me a text, and you didn’t send me a voicemail. I have in my phone, nine full-blown PDFs. PDFs that — do you know, every meeting I was in, I almost spoke about you every time.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.