Warner Bros. Discovery Reportedly Fought To Keep Cody Rhodes In AEW

According to a new report from Fightful Select, Warner Bros. Discovery apparently spoke to Cody Rhodes before his AEW departure and tried to convince him to stay with the company.

Rhodes is of course now a member of the WWE roster, but is out due to injury.

According to sources at WBD, there were “several” efforts to keep Rhodes in AEW, as he had a good relationship with WarnerMedia due to his work on Rhodes to the Top and Go Big Show. The deal with WWE wasn’t official until a few weeks before Wrestlemania, although WWE thought it was a “foregone conclusion.” After Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, however, there were efforts outside of AEW to see how interested Rhodes was in staying with AEW.

Those who tried to contact Rhodes include Associate General Manager and Senior Vice President of Scripted Original Programming for TBS, TNT and TruTV Sam Linskey. There was said to be no issues on either side, Rhodes told anyone who asked that it was “time to leave the territory.” Since Rhodes and Brandi were connected to several WBD shows, they were asked to take part in the Upfronts. There’s no word if it was tied to those shows, AEW or both.

WBD sources said they wanted Rhodes to stay but it wasn’t a dealbreaker. They’re also reportedly happy with AEW, especially the viewership numbers for September.

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