Summary

Cody Rhodes said he and Brandi Rhodes made a deliberate decision not to publicly detail why they left AEW, the company they helped build. Speaking during a recent interview, Cody described that silence as a selfless choice by Brandi, adding that fan narratives filled the gap while the real reason remained private.

He also said WrestleMania 40 was an important moment for Brandi, because the crowd reaction when she appeared with him reinforced his belief that many fans still respected her. The discussion comes after Brandi was back in the spotlight this week with her reaction to Stephanie McMahon confronting Cody on WWE Raw.

Quote from Cody Rhodes

"Our departure from when we left the company we were with and helped create, that was AEW. It came down to her deciding to not talk about it, that departure. ‘We’re not going to talk about it. We’re moving on.’ Did bad stuff happen? Good stuff happened, too. I’m not going to talk about it. One of the sad things about not talking about why we left and the departure is that narratives get created. Stories get told. Podcasts happen. Fans literally think they know what happened when no one has been even close. What I would say it the selfless part is, she lives with that. She owns that. She respects, not just here, but the place we left enough, ‘I’m not going to talk about that.’ That made it so, ‘They’re good. They’re out of here.’ That was very helpful for us."

Cody later went on to say:

"Good stuff happened there too, but that’s what I mean by selfless. She lives with that, and one of the things about that is that wrestling fans create a narrative, and I had to remind her, ‘It’s not all the fans.’ WrestleMania was the prime example of that. I said, ‘You’re going to come out with me at WrestleMania 40.’ I was so happy because the fans reacted. Big pop. I nudged her to be like, ‘See. The real ones get it. They ain’t mad at you.’ That was very important that she felt it. A lot of wrestlers step away, screw up, come back, whatever, and the fans always cradle you back in."

What Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes' comments signal now

Cody Rhodes framing Brandi Rhodes' silence as a protective decision keeps the AEW departure story intentionally closed, and that likely means fans should not expect a full public breakdown of the split any time soon.

At the same time, his WrestleMania 40 example points to a clear consequence for Brandi's on-screen presence, WWE crowds already gave her a major positive reaction in a high-profile setting, which can make future appearances feel less like a risk and more like a welcomed extension of Cody's presentation.

Sources

As reported by Fightful.