Apr 8, 2024 2:14:38 GMT KJ said:

Not gonna bother finding the post …

RT , what was Cody’s big sin with his AEW booking?

Sorry thread was so busy I missed this.

I'm not gonna type the long version out right now because there is a lot to cover, but the gist is this:

Cody's reinvention in the indies was something nobody saw coming, and the fact he won over "those" fans was a huge deal at the time. He was massively over and the main reason the hype around AEW's creation was so big.

He had full creative freedom over what he did on AEW TV and then proceeded to do a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make any sense and totally went against the character that he became in the indies. He got a world title shot against Chris Jericho and had the idea that if he lost, he should never challenge for the title again. Then he lost. It was very weird but fans were willing to see how it played out, but then he immediately became the inaugural TNT Champion, winning a tournament, and it very much appeared that the title was created for him to win. Then after that he booked a bunch of weird stuff with his friends that the fans hated, and the entire time he couldn't figure out why nobody liked him anymore.

AEW was still in its infancy and was marketed as the alternative to WWE that focused on wrestling, then Cody would come out every week and do long promos and weird segments with his friends. Fans dubbed it "The Codyverse" because they all existed in their own world outside of AEW, and for months everyone thought he was a genius that was doing some kind of meta sports entertainment heel gimmick....then he quit the company.

....

There's a lot more nuance to it that I am not providing. Can discuss it somewhere else if it comes up again. Others can fill in the gaps.

Anyway, don't wanna hijack the thread much more than I already have. I'm ecstatic for Cody. I'm glad he is where he wants to be and still maintained the friendships he created. A lot of wrestlers are working today and getting much bigger paydays because of him. He's done more for the business of professional wrestling than almost any other wrestler. His dad would be so proud.

Apr 8, 2024 3:02:52 GMT RT said:

Apr 8, 2024 2:14:38 GMT KJ said:

Not gonna bother finding the post …

RT , what was Cody’s big sin with his AEW booking?

Sorry thread was so busy I missed this.

I'm not gonna type the long version out right now because there is a lot to cover, but the gist is this:

Cody's reinvention in the indies was something nobody saw coming, and the fact he won over "those" fans was a huge deal at the time. He was massively over and the main reason the hype around AEW's creation was so big.

He had full creative freedom over what he did on AEW TV and then proceeded to do a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make any sense and totally went against the character that he became in the indies. He got a world title shot against Chris Jericho and had the idea that if he lost, he should never challenge for the title again. Then he lost. It was very weird but fans were willing to see how it played out, but then he immediately became the inaugural TNT Champion, winning a tournament, and it very much appeared that the title was created for him to win. Then after that he booked a bunch of weird stuff with his friends that the fans hated, and the entire time he couldn't figure out why nobody liked him anymore.

AEW was still in its infancy and was marketed as the alternative to WWE that focused on wrestling, then Cody would come out every week and do long promos and weird segments with his friends. Fans dubbed it "The Codyverse" because they all existed in their own world outside of AEW, and for months everyone thought he was a genius that was doing some kind of meta sports entertainment heel gimmick....then he quit the company.

....

There's a lot more nuance to it that I am not providing. Can discuss it somewhere else if it comes up again. Others can fill in the gaps.

Anyway, don't wanna hijack the thread much more than I already have. I'm ecstatic for Cody. I'm glad he is where he wants to be and still maintained the friendships he created. A lot of wrestlers are working today and getting much bigger paydays because of him. He's done more for the business of professional wrestling than almost any other wrestler. His dad would be so proud.

<bolded because related thoughts>

I don't want to oversell this and call it Bucks vs Cody because it implies there's bad feelings involved, but it seems like the two had very different ideas with how a wrestling company should be booked. Bucks are modern indy fast paced let the names sell the match (it's Danielson! It's Okada! Next PPV! What more do you need?), Cody is old school classic build the characters to the match, slower paced. Codyverse existed in part because the two philosophies are out of step with each other and it always felt like two parallel dimensions were occasionally touching together.

KJ Michinokudriver

Started a new thread for this discussion as I don't want to hijack the Wrestlemania thread, but I think it's a good topic to chat about. There is a lot to cover from Cody's indie/AEW run that some fans here might not be up to speed on, and adds even more nuance and story to his WWE Championship run. I'm definitely going to add more thoughts when I have time. Last day on site so I'm busy today and have to commute home later.

Discuss all things Cody history here.

(Codistory? Codystory?)

If someone wants to move this to another forum by all means. Wasn't sure where to stick it.

When did the Codyverse become a part of the vernacular? Was it during the Jade Cargill debut after dropping the TNT Strap to Darby?





Despite the initial pitch that AEW was going to be a sports-style presentation, AEW sold itself more as a variety show. It was going to cater to as many wrestling fans as possible and there was bound to be something that you'd enjoy. That held true with one exception, the Codyverse where Cody would take up precious television time and battle it out with QT Marshall and the talent at the Nightmare Factory - the school run by both him and QT. The talent was still green which on a show filled with indie vets made them stick out like sore thumbs and the creative was incredibly hokey.





Eventually Malakai Black would make his AEW debut and his first feud was with Cody. Finally Cody had somebody talented to share the time with and it seemed like Cody did the right thing and put Malakai over so Hangman would have a credible opponent as his first defence. However the feud kept going, the promos got more ridiculous:



and somehow they got Andrade intertwined in all of it leading to dumb spots like this.



Do you want to know how I get these scars?

Cody had become a vortex and unlike everything he'd done for Darby, MJF, Ricky Starks, Eddie Kingston, Jade Cargill etc. it wasn't sticking. The Nightmare Factory, Malakai Black, Andrade just all came and went.

Cody did one last good deed when he returned the favour from the first ever Dynamite and put Guevara over in a big time ladder match off contract. Cody did leave us with one baffling promo where he just ranted and rave about Punk, Brody King and gave Ricky Starks some advice. Can anyone make any sense of this?

Damn reported Cody moved a million worth of merch during WM weekend.

This leads me to think if Cody never left AEW, who would be the guy to defeat Romam?

Apr 12, 2024 15:37:49 GMT Ed said:

This leads me to think if Cody never left AEW, who would be the guy to defeat Romam?

That's a real head scratcher.

Sami challenging Roman and defeating him I think was too soon into the run for it to have the same impact. And Sami, bless his heart, isn't Cody.

If it were Vince booking, the likelihood of The Rock challenging Reigns would have been high still.

If not The Rock under Vince's watch, then Brock. But, what a cop out.

Maybe, Seth.

Thought most of the Codyverse in AEW was amazing minus like three things: QT, that one promo, and the neck tattoo.

Apr 12, 2024 21:58:59 GMT X-zero said:

Thought most of the Codyverse in AEW was amazing minus like three things: QT, that one promo, and the neck tattoo.

I found his switch to black hair random & odd.

Apr 14, 2024 21:52:42 GMT Ed said:

Apr 12, 2024 21:58:59 GMT X-zero said:

Thought most of the Codyverse in AEW was amazing minus like three things: QT, that one promo, and the neck tattoo.

I found his switch to black hair random & odd.

If I am remembering right he dyed his hair black when he joined Bullet Club then bleached it when he was an undeniable baby face. When he dyed it black again in AEW fans were convinced he was finally turning heel like everyone was anticipating…then he just bleached it back like two weeks later.

I might be misremembering but yeah it was weird and random.

I thought it was just his attempt at a 'Painmaker' style metamorphosis ahead of the Brodie Lee Dog Collar match and he went back to the Geese Howard look afterwards.

It's another instance of Cody's run ageing better over time. When it happened, the whole thing felt too rushed and despite the dominant championship win, Brodie didn't get an opportunity to get over before Cody came back and randomly made it a dog collar match. In hindsight the rushed nature is completely understandable given Brodie's fate and Lee's work with Cody was the highlight of his onscreen run.

The temp hair change didn't bother me saw it is an anime/superhero thing. He pretty much went reverse super saiyan.