WBD Reportedly Spoke With Cody Rhodes Before WWE Return And More AEW Notes

It appears Warner Bros. Discovery played a role in trying to convince Cody Rhodes to stay with AEW. Rhodes and his wife, Brandi, parted ways with AEW back in February. At the time, the news came as a shock to many within the wrestling industry as he was one of the company's founding Executive Vice Presidents. Rhodes ultimately returned to WWE in April, defeating Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38.

Fightful spoke to WBD executives and was told that the company made an effort to keep Rhodes under an AEW contract. It was said that Rhodes was well-liked at WarnerMedia not just for his work on AEW TV. He was also able to curry favor with WBD execs through his work on "Rhodes To The Top" and the "Go-Big Show."

The report mentions that since Rhodes' WWE return wasn't finalized until a few weeks before WrestleMania, WBD, independent of AEW, tried to get a feel for Rhodes' interest level in staying. Sam Linsky is said to have been a major executive who didn't want Rhodes to leave for WWE. Linsky serves as the Associate General Manager and Senior Vice President of Scripted Original Programming for TNT and TBS, as well as truTV.

AEW Owner and CEO Tony Khan and Rhodes have both publicly said that their split was amicable. The Fightful report notes that this is indeed the case, as neither side harbors a grudge. It's been said that while WBD executives would've preferred to have Rhodes stay, his departure was not seen as a dealbreaker in the company's relationship with AEW.