In 2016, Cody Rhodes left WWE after growing frustrated with his creative direction, portraying Stardust on TV, and being stuck in the mid-card, eventually leading him to find his path on the independent wrestling scene and becoming one of the founding members of AEW three years later. However, in a recent episode of “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” Rhodes revealed that there was a specific conversation with a talent relations worker during his live event feud with Matt Cardona that ultimately led to his decision to leave WWE.
“I said, ‘Hey, me and Matt are wrestling, and this is like the eighth time we’ve wrestled in three months. What do you want out of this? Like, who’s over?’ Do you know what he said? He goes, ‘Does it really matter?’ And I thought, ‘No,’ … That, ‘Does it really matter,’ I wasn’t mad at him. I was of the thought, this moment doesn’t. We’re about getting this crowd excited. Our narratives are not going anywhere in terms of we’re not trying to build upon something that doesn’t exist,” Rhodes explained. “The talent relations guy, that’s what he said to me on the way out. He was like, ‘I’ll see you next week.’ And I loudly said, ‘No, you won’t!’ And I kept going and then I wasn’t there the next week.”
Rhodes also stated that he lied to Matt Cardona about being told “Does it really matter?” by talent relations, explaining that he often told “The Indy God” that the creative team wanted him to win. Following Rhodes’ departure, Cardona would stick with WWE for another four years before being released after WrestleMania 36.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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