AEW President Tony Khan has revealed that he wasn’t fully convinced when Cody Rhodes first suggested putting his future AEW World title opportunities on the line.
The stipulation popped up before AEW Full Gear 2019. Rhodes challenged Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship, knowing that if he lost, he would never attain another shot at the title. Rhodes lost the match and stayed true to that promise until he left AEW in early 2022.
Khan recently looked back on the decision. He also talked about the return of the same stipulation ahead of Kenny Omega’s AEW World Championship match against MJF on AEW Dynamite: Beach Break.
Tony Khan wasn’t sure about Cody Rhodes’ idea
Speaking with Q101’s Case Lowe, Khan said the idea came from Cody himself, not AEW management.
“In the case of Cody, it was Cody’s idea to do that. I did have some reservations about it at that time. He felt pretty strongly about it, and that’s how it came to be. And I went along because I can see why he wanted to have that, and it would certainly build unpredictability around the event. It did add intrigue, and that was a great show and a great match,” Khan said.
Even though Khan called the match one of AEW’s early highlights, he said the long-term effects had serious ramifications. Since Rhodes could never challenge for the world title again, AEW had to find new directions for their top star.
Khan said those creative challenges eventually played a part in the creation of the TNT Championship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rhodes became the first TNT Champion and defended the title regularly. Khan believes Rhodes helped make the championship feel important right from the start.
“The aftermath did create challenges. Not long after that, the pandemic hit, and I had the idea for the TNT Championship. And I think Cody was great as the TNT champion to be the first champion, defending the title on TV, and he built a great rivalry with Darby, and Cody really believed very strongly in Darby. It made a lot of sense as we went on that he could be someone that eventually did win the big one against Cody after coming close a number of times in those matches. I did have reservations about that at the time. But it was something he felt pretty strongly about, so I went along with it,” Khan revealed.
Although the world title stipulation limited Rhodes’ options, Khan believes his TNT Championship run created great TV and helped elevate new talent.
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