"I did lose a very prominent free agent" - Tony Khan breaks silence on Cody Rhodes joining WWE

Cody Rhodes made a spectacular WWE debut at WrestleMania 38 Night One. Tony Khan finally spoke about one of his biggest stars joining AEW's biggest rival.

Cody Rhodes and Tony Khan reportedly hit a wall during contract negotiations that saw the American Nightmare as well as his wife Brandi Rhodes leave All Elite Wrestling. It was a shock to most as the three-time TNT Champion had pledged his loyalty to AEW numerous times, going as far as to say that he wanted to be an AEW EVP for life.

However, as we have seen numerous times in the past, nothing is set in stone in professional wrestling. Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Tony Khan spoke about his former EVP joining WWE.

“I did lose a very prominent free agent,” Khan says. “But we’re debuting one tonight in Samoa Joe. In the past 30 days, we’ve also debuted Toni Storm, who was incredible last week in her win against The Bunny, and Jeff Hardy, one of the biggest stars in wrestling. We have a lot of excitement happening here, and that’s our focus.”

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Cody Rhodes said he and Tony Khan drifted apart

Cody Rhodes has been busy with interviews since showing up in WWE after leaving the company 6 years ago. When asked about his AEW departure by Ariel Helwani of BT Sports, the former Intercontinental Champion claimed that he had drifted apart with the AEW president.

“Unfortunately I can’t comment on the personal matter itself but it really just came down, Tony Khan who I have genuine respect for and I hope history is really kind to because he bank rolled the entire grassroots movement that was starting in ROH and then All In happened and of course AEW happened and then he was able to buy that footage back, I felt like we were drifting apart."

Rhodes added:

“It just genuinely felt that it was time, can’t comment on the personal nature of it but there was nothing nefarious or scandalous, we just couldn’t’ agree." (H/T WrestlingInc)

Cody Rhodes has stated that he intends to win the WWE Championship in his second run with the company. Considering his treatment so far, it'll be interesting to see just how close he reaches a world title this time.