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AEW TNT champion Cody Rhodes has been a staple of the company since before its inception. He played a pivotal in creating the "All In" show in 2018 that proved to be the pre-cursor to All Elite Wrestling, where he has been an Executive Vice President since the company was conceived in 2019.
It has now been revealed by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful that Cody Rhodes is officially a free agent. The TNT champion has been working without an official contract for several weeks, after his deal expired at the end of 2021.
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The landscape of AEW would look very different if Cody Rhodes was not a part of it, and the TNT champion agreed with this sentiment in an interview with Sports Illustrated back in December.
"As of now, my future is with AEW. AEW would be very strange without the core members of the revolution. We all still talk. We all have this admiration for each other. I can’t see myself anywhere else, and I’m very optimistic about what the future holds," Rhodes said (H/T Sports Illustrated).
The history of free agents in the wrestling business has taught fans to expect the unexpected. With WWE bringing the IMPACT Knockouts Champion Mickie James through the "forbidden door" to compete in the Royal Rumble this month, could Cody make that leap too? Only time will tell.
Cody Rhodes returns to AEW Dynamite this week
Whether he has a contract or not, Cody still has obligations with AEW at the time of writing. In fact, he is scheduled to return to AEW this week for the January 19 episode of Dynamite.
Rhodes missed the inaugural "Battle of the Belts" event on January 7 due to coming into contact with a family member who had tested positive for COVID-19. His scheduled TNT championship match with Sammy Guevara was put on hold, and Cody's brother Dustin Rhodes stepped in to face Guevara for the Interim TNT championship.
A unification match is most likely in the works, and with Rhodes working in a position where he can possibly do whatever he wants, it's certainly an interesting time to be watching All Elite Wrestling.
