During a new interview with Q101 in Chicago, AEW CEO Tony Khan was asked to give his thoughts about Cody Rhodes’ comments this past July during an interview with The Bill Simmons Podcast about him feeling disrespected during his time in AEW for a reason for his departure in 2022.
“You know, he does a lot of interviews and I think when you have to say so many words so often — he works so hard, he has such a big schedule. To his credit, I bet he does hundreds of interviews a year. I’m not sure I agree with that, but I also would give him the benefit of the doubt, I’ve heard him say a lot of positive things too. For somebody that doesn’t work here and that’s involved in a competitive promotion, he’s usually pretty gracious with the things that he says. I’ve seen him since he’s been gone and it’s always been very positive and good. I have only good things to say about him and his contributions here.”
Tony Khan also gave his thoughts about him denying the rumors that he had blocked Shinsuke Nakamura from being the opponent for Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 20 event.
“That is actually something I read about and I was surprised to read that. I’m not sure where that all came from, I don’t really understand some of that story. It was a very detailed story with a lot of, if I may, it seemed like they thought they could read minds when they wrote that story. Not only did they say this happened and this happened, but he felt his way about it and he felt this way about it and then he was thinking. It’s like, well, are you telepathic? A lot of that never happened and a lot of it was like, how would you know what that guy was thinking or that guy? I thought that was an interesting story, I’ll put it that way. I’ve talked to him extensively about his retirement, worked with him and the idea of having Kazuchika Okada as his final opponent, it’s such an iconic thing. Their rivalry is so important to New Japan Pro Wrestling and to both men’s careers an to what has gone on to be a very successful promotion with AEW. I think it’s perfect and I’m very happy involved for Okada to be involved at Wrestle Kingdom as the final opponent of Tanahashi for his retirement match.” H/T to Fightful.com for the transcription.
