Cody Rhodes On AEW All Out Brawl: 'That's Not How We Envisioned It'

Cody Rhodes is on his road to WrestleMania 39 at the moment, where he's currently slated to take on the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. At this time last year, though, he was still with AEW, serving as one of the company's Executive Vice Presidents, no less. However, he wasn't around for the All Out aftermath that September, which saw CM Punk call out the likes of Colt Cabana and Adam Page as well as fellow EVPs Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. In an interview with Ariel Helwani, "The American Nightmare" shared his thoughts on the infamous "Brawl Out" fallout.

"There were some people texting me, 'Man, you're the smartest guy in the room,'" Rhodes told Helwani. "And I wanted to write back, 'F.U. man.' I don't feel that way. I feel this thing we built got damaged."

Rhodes refused to blame any one person for the events of that evening. He did, however, take it to heart.

"I just hated seeing that," he continued.

Rhodes stressed that he's hopeful AEW continues to grow and that it's important to remember why they were there in the first place. He then went on to discuss what he considers a "feather in your cap" in the wrestling business, such as winning a world title or the Royal Rumble, but he considers building an alternative wrestling promotion and giving more wrestlers even more opportunities to be right alongside those accomplishments.

"I don't want that to be erased. I don't want that to go away," he declared. "I was just bummed out when I saw it. That's not how we envisioned it."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The MMA Hour" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.