Cody On Combining Old School & New School In AEW

Cody Rhodes recently spoke to Sport1 in Germany. During the conversation, Cody discussed AEW’s approach of combining old school and new school wrestling.

“They say in wrestling: What’s old is new. There is so much of the territory wrestling and even pre-Crockett, pre-television wrestling, that has so many great stories and element to bring to the squared circle and tell a story within the ropes. To be able to do that on worldwide television is huge,” Cody said during the interview.

“But we also have to do our best not to be a parody of what’s old. Not to be nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake,” he continued. “You have to give people the buffet: some old, some new. We are melting those worlds. I like Memphis Wrestling, southern wrestling, I revel in that old school, but not lazy old school – the diligent, committed old school. If you mash that up with the new school and create something new, like Darby Allin does or MJF: People will let you know how much they love it.”

Cody was also asked to comment on recent remarks by Roman Reigns on AEW. Reigns said to the same outlet earlier this year that it was generous to call AEW competition.

“WWE’s on a 49-year head start and I tip my hat for that,” Cody said. “But what we’re doing is to build upon what fans have been talking about for 20 years, what they want from a wrestling product and what perhaps wasn’t delivered to them. We want to be the alternative. If that means stepping into competition, so be it. It’s better to have competition, for me, for Roman, for everybody.”