Over its six-year history, All Elite Wrestling has evolved from being something that was thrown around as an idea between members of The Elite to the second biggest wrestling company in the entire world, with plenty of room still to grow. However, due to the company being so young, there have been some teething problems that AEW is still trying to sort out to this day, but one mistake ended up being the first domino to fall in a chain of events that would lead one of their founders right to the main event scene of their biggest rivals.
When AEW was first founded, each member of The Elite had their own unique position in the company. Hangman Adam Page was the future, The Young Bucks were going to make tag team wrestling great again, and Kenny Omega was going to be the company's ace. As for Cody Rhodes, he was arguably the face of the operation, even going as far as to field questions from journalists on media calls before major pay-per-views when company President and CEO Tony Khan wasn't available. If a wrestling fan thought of AEW, one of the first people they thought of was Cody Rhodes.
Naturally, this led to Rhodes being the first challenger to the AEW World Championship after Chris Jericho became the inaugural champion at the 2019 All Out pay-per-view. Jericho was a recognizable name to casual fans while also being respected by the hardcore fans, but Rhodes was poised to be "Mr. AEW" by the end of 2019 for a lot of people. When Rhodes and Jericho's match for the Full Gear pay-per-view in November 2019 was made official, even the stipulation of Rhodes never being allowed to challenge for the title again if he lost didn't phase people, as stipulations like that had always been disregarded by companies for many years. However, Rhodes lost the match at Full Gear, and wanting to stay true to his word, he never challenged for the AEW World Championship again.
Rhodes' self-imposed exile from the AEW World Championship scene didn't faze people at first, as many believed that there would be some sort of loophole years down the line, but that loophole was never found. As time went on, Rhodes became less involved with the main event scene in AEW, and his multiple reigns as AEW TNT Champion only looked to be consolation prizes in hindsight.
The man himself even admitted in a 2022 interview that boxing himself out of the main event scene in AEW was a mistake, stating that he is at the age where he should be winning world titles and forcing himself not to hold, or even challenge for the title of a company he helped create was a terrible idea. A year later, Rhodes revealed that he felt like his wrestling was getting worse in AEW, which he believes was "A Cody Mistake" as he thought he would still be as good as ever, only wrestling a couple of times per month. He wanted to take on more of an executive role in AEW and embrace the EVP title that had been given to him, but at the end of the day, all he wanted to do was wrestle, and there was a company that would not only allow him to wrestle but make him their top star.
In 2022, Rhodes and his wife Brandi left AEW to the surprise of many, and "The American Nightmare"returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38. He was immediately positioned as a main event guy, and two years after his big return, Rhodes had become the biggest name in the business and headlined both nights of WrestleMania 40, becoming the Undisputed WWE Champion on night two. Had Rhodes been allowed to win the AEW World Championship, he might never have left the company, and WWE wouldn't have one of the biggest babyfaces of the modern era.
