AEW star told Tony Khan he would never leave the company after Cody Rhodes left for WWE - "I just won't do it"

The wrestling world was shaken when Cody Rhodes departed AEW in early 2022. His return to WWE has helped change the landscape for the Stamford-based company, but several of his friends—and even his brother, Dustin Rhodes—have remained in Tony Khan's promotion.

QT Marshall departed AEW late last year after reportedly becoming frustrated with his lack of on-screen development. However, he was brought back in as Vice President of Show and Creative Coordination in February.

Marshall is good friends with Cody Rhodes, and the two even run a wrestling school together, The Nightmare Factory, which was recently included in the new WWE ID program. However, QT didn't follow The American Nightmare to World Wrestling Entertainment, and he revealed in a recent interview with The Takedown on SI that he would never leave AEW for an office job in the sports entertainment juggernaut:

"I have so many positives in wrestling when it comes to what I bring to the table," Marshall said. "I make too many to the point where no one has a clue what to do with me, which is why I fit in so well at AEW because I don't have just one role. I just do as much stuff as I possibly can. Of course, it dawned on me to think about it. I remember telling Tony a long time ago when Cody first went to WWE, ‘I'm never going to leave AEW to go work in the office at WWE. I just won't do it. That's such a large system.'" [H/T The Takedown]

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QT Marshall briefly courted WWE before returning to AEW

When QT Marshall departed All Elite Wrestling last year, many fans expected him to sign with WWE, either for an on-screen or backstage role, due to his friendship with Cody Rhodes and experience in the business.

The 39-year-old ultimately returned to the Jacksonville-based promotion, but not before testing the waters with WWE. However, the conversation he had rubbed him the wrong way, as he told Steven Muelhausen on The Takedown:

"I had one conversation with somebody that doesn't even work there anymore. I just got rubbed the wrong way during the conversation. It was like, ‘Hey, yeah, oh yeah, that's great. All right. I told him, like, yeah, all right, we'll stay in touch’. To me, it was like I'm not staying in touch. I had all that time between November and January, so that on January 1 when that conversation did arise or January 2, whenever it was. It was like I kind of knew plus I had already spoken to Tony before that, so I kind of knew. I think I was just looking for a reason to say no."

It was thought that QT Marshall's days of wrestling in AEW were done, but he's now set for a special match against The Costco Guys' "Big Boom" AJ on Full Gear's Zero Hour pre-show later this month.