Cody Rhodes Recalls an Awkward Meeting in AEW With Matt Cardona & Tony Khan

– During a recent appearance on the The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, WWWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes recalled an awkward meeting in AEW with Matt Cardona, himself, and AEW President Tony Khan that would’ve had Cardona coming into the company to team with Rhodes. However, the meeting got awkward since it was held at an AEW afterparty, with other roster members present, which Cardona did not expect. And then Cardona threw in some comments that Cody did not expect either. Below are some highlights:

On pitching to have Matt Cardona as part of a tag team with him in AEW: “I at the time when I was working at AEW had asked Matt if he wanted to be part of a tag team situation with me, do something together and then I think we
worked it out talked about just doing — what was it? Five? Three or five shows? It wasn’t a long-term commitment or anything like that, but I wanted to bring him in, and I wanted my friend as you heard earlier in my introduction, my best friend, I wanted him to be part of what I was doing. He and WWE had parted ways at that point, what a free agent what out there. This was just a win-win. You have a specific audience who follows you everywhere you go. You’re an entrepreneur. You take care of all your people. This is a no-brainer for a place to look at you and roll up the Brinks truck.”

Cody Rhodes on scheduling a meeting between Matt Cardona and Tony Khan at an AEW afterparty: “So I had scheduled a meeting between Matt Cardona and Tony Khan, and the best I could do because ofthes the climate in terms of the pandemic, and the fourth floor, and the afterparty, which was always nice, there was a lot of food for everybody, it was just good for morale. I thought they could meet there, and Tony said that was a great idea. The setting isn’t great. We should have flown to Matt, or we should have done it in an office somewhere. The setting is not great.”

On Cardona originally expecting it to be a private meeting: “100%. You had every right to think it would be private, and it should have been private, but this was I got …. because it was so insanely awkward for such a period of time because I noticed that Matt was like, you know when Matt gets kind of nervous? You know, like the shoulders tense up and his face gets a little more red than it already is? There’s like this — you can feel his energy getting nervous. So I noticed he was a little nervous about this this meeting, which whatever, I’m not judging that by any means, but he hasn’t told me anything that he’s going to say. And of course, I trust my best friend is gonna be just fine with this, and I don’t have to do anything other than, ‘Hey guys, here you are,’ That’s it.”

On how things started between Tony Khan and Matt Cardona: “This is how the conversation opened up, and if I could have taken a freaking back bump on the cement, I would have taken a back bump. It was so shocking. Tony starts talking and before long, Matt goes, ‘Well let me stop you right there’ He’s already got a bullish, fortune favors the bold approach to this. ‘I want you to know that I don’t want to be here to be Cody’s friend. I want you to know that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a Nightmare Family jacket.’ This is happening in real time to me, and this is the guy I suggested come in as my friend. And I remember to his credit, Tony being such a nice guy, ‘Oh, OK,’ and the meeting was done. It was over. We sat there for probably another hour and nothing of substance was said because it it just just tore me to shreds, killed me.”

Cody Rhodes would eventually depart from AEW in early 2022, eventually returning to WWE later that year at WrestleMania 38. Matt Cardona would eventually make a one-off return to AEW, facing Adam Copeland in a losing effort on Collision last March.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.