TMZ Sports recently caught up with All Elite Wrestling‘s Cody Rhodes. Rhodes was asked whether he believes that AEW could really surpass the WWE and responded, “I think we’re just trying to be an alternative, lean into the people that supported us last year and do it all again.”
He also revealed his take on having famous faces in AEW, “I think we’re looking for wrestlers and I don’t knock anything in the mainstream, but that’s what won with ALL IN is fresh products. It’s a mistake if you try to lead with familiar faces from the days of old. We can’t just keep reminding people that the Attitude Era was great. We already knew it was great. This era could be really good too. That’s my goal. My job is finding the fresh guys.”
When asked about his level of interest in bringing UFC performers to the upstart new league, Rhodes responded, “That might be a fun challenge. I think something like that, if they have a passion for wrestling, it really works out, but you can’t – that’s one of my big knocks – you can’t teach passion, so as long as somebody’s passionate about it and knows it’s kind of a hard gig, which those guys already bust their ass, I can imagine that would be a cool little crossover.”
The interviewer suggested that Rhodes take a look at UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, once he retires and Rhodes promised to, “Keep that in mind.”
It didn’t take long for Bellator’s Aaron Chalmers to catch wind of the TMZ Sports interview, who wondered if the invitation extended to Bellator:
https://twitter.com/AaronCGShore/status/1086639812814274561
Rhodes responded with:
If they have a passion for this…
welcome with open arms!
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) January 19, 2019
Readers may watch TMZ Sports’ interview with Rhodes below:
RELATED: Cody Rhodes – AEW Not Hiring Writers Anytime Soon, ‘Wrestlers Are The Writers’
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