Summary

Cody Rhodes addressed the long-running questions around why he and Brandi Rhodes left AEW, saying most fan narratives about their exit are wrong. He said Brandi made the call to stay quiet publicly, and that decision helped them move forward.

Quote from Cody Rhodes

"Our departure from the company we were with and helped create, and that was AEW. It came down to her deciding not to talk about it, to just move on."

"Like, we're not going to talk about it. Did bad stuff happen? Good stuff happened too. But I'm not going to talk about it."

"One of the sad things about not talking about why we left is that narratives get created. Stories get told, podcasts happen, and fans think they know what happened when no one's even been close."

Cody later went on to say:

"And what I would say is the selfless part is that she lives with that. She owns that. She respects not just here, but the place we left enough to say, 'I'm not going to talk about that.' And that made it so that they're good, like, they're out of here."

"That was very helpful for us. And again, good stuff happened there too. But that's what I mean by selfless, because she lives with that."

"One of the things about that is wrestling fans, they create narratives. They think they know. I had to remind her, 'Hey, it's not all the fans.'"

"And WrestleMania 40 was the prime example of that. I said, 'You're going to come out with me at WrestleMania 40.' And I was so happy because the fans reacted, big pop, big excitement."

"I just needed to nudge her a little, like, 'See? Those are the real ones. They get it. They're not mad at you.'"

"That was very important, that she felt that. Because a lot of wrestlers step away, go somewhere else, or make a mistake, and when they come back, the fans always welcome you back. They're really special."

What it means for Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes in WWE

Cody Rhodes framing Brandi's silence as the key step in leaving AEW reinforces that this chapter is still sensitive, and that likely keeps both of them from publicly reopening the details any time soon. At the same time, his WrestleMania 40 example lines up with how fans have recently embraced Brandi again, including the reaction highlighted when Brandi Rhodes responded after Stephanie McMahon confronted Cody Rhodes on WWE Raw.

Sources

As reported by NoDQ.