Cody Says AEW’s TV Deal will Change Wrestling’s Landscape

In an interview with WINCLY, Cody Rhodes talked about how an AEW TV deal would create a “massive shift” in the pro-wrestling industry. 

“I can’t talk about it but I know that I was quoted as saying, not by you guys, that ‘a TV deal was not important.’ And I think that in the context I was speaking, I was talking about how important social media and do-it-yourself brands are compared to the traditional TV median,” Rhodes said. “But I also – let’s be serious, major TV is a huge thing. And it would be a massive shift in the pro wrestling industry. It would be a change-the-world-like move. But I can’t talk about any pending TV deals. 

“A lot of the information that’s out there is very accurate about what we’re seeking to do and how frequently we’re seeking to do it,” Rhodes said. “But I don’t want to discourage any future partners. I can say that people have been really calculated about how we roll out announcements. We want to be proper. We can’t just stand on the podium in Jacksonville and say, ‘Hey, here’s the entire business model, here’s all of our plans, here’s x-amount of money.’ We can’t do that. I know the business of the business is very entertaining but I think if people put their trust in us like they have, we won’t let them down.” 

Cody also said that AEW is scouting stadiums for future shows. 

“To be frank, I have a couple site visits in the next few weeks that are stadiums. So, it doesn’t mean anything. There’s no promises, no contracts, no nothing like that. Just me and my business partners checking out a few spots. 

“That would be really exciting [to host that many people],” Rhodes said. “I mean, that would be a dream come true to have over 40,000+. When you get between that 40 and 80 range a Wrestlemania-like event has, that Superbowl event-like has…that’s something special. But I know that we don’t want to – we really got to do this right. We got to crawl before we walk and we’ve got to walk before we run, and you’ve seen companies that have a lot of financial backing take shop that they shouldn’t take, so, we’re just trying to be careful.”