AEW’s Arn Anderson recently discussed Cody Rhodes’ AEW departure during an episode of his “ARN Podcast,” and the impact the departure has had on his current role with the company.
Arn noted that the situation has put him in limbo, revealing that he is not currently under contract as a coach with AEW. Anderson is still there with his son, Brock Anderson, who teams with Lee Johnson.
“Now that there is no longer Cody, I am no longer a coach technically,” Anderson said. “Any young guy in the back that has a question or wants to ask my advice, it’s not my job because I’m considered talent but I will help any one of those guys or a veteran for that matter. I’ve had a couple of nice discussions with CM Punk since he’s been back, he would ask my opinion on different things.
“So I’ve got a lot of experience, that’s just not my job. To be quite honest with you, even though I respect how much they call them coaches with AEW and how important they are with their wisdom, the BJs and the Jerry Lynns and the Dean Malenkos and the Billy Gunns, who are assisting this young talent on trying to figure out what to do and how much to do or dial it down a bit or dial it up, Dustin Rhodes. Huge influence on these young kids.”
Arn reiterated the in-limbo comments, and commented on being there with his son.
“Right now, to be honest with you, I’m kind of in limbo,” he said. “Basically just being there with Brock, supporting him. We’re at all the TVs, the fact that we’re not on TV a lot of the time is we’re still there and he’s watching and he’s learning. We do these [AEW] Dark matches and I hope [the fans] know how to find those. That gives these young kids some reps that they normally wouldn’t get and it’s in front of a TV audience and lets you guys support them and critique them and do all the things that great wrestling fans do.”
It’s been reported that Rhodes signed his WWE return contract two weeks ago, and that he is scheduled to be a member of the RAW roster. Rhodes’ AEW deal expired in February as he and AEW President Tony Khan were unable to agree on a new deal. Arn said he had no idea what was going on behind-the-scenes between the two, but he believes Rhodes made his decision in the best interest of his family.
“I didn’t know all this other stuff was going on behind the scenes,” Anderson said. “He doesn’t owe anybody an explanation. Every female or male that’s in this industry will come to that point in time where they’ll make a decision and switch companies. If you do it in the vein of what’s best for my family, can’t go wrong.”
Rhodes is expected to return to WWE this Saturday at WrestleMania 38, as the mystery opponent for Seth Rollins.
Stay tuned for more.
(H/T to WrestlingInc for the quotes)
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