Nick Aldis On What His Rivalry With Cody Rhodes Did For His Wrestling Career
An electric rivalry has the power to reshape careers and catapult a wrestler to new heights of fame and success. The 2018 feud between Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes was a focal point of 2018's All In, the mega-indie show that snowballed into the creation of AEW.
Although their All In match saw Rhodes capture the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship for a feel-good moment, Aldis believes the rivalry did a lot to boost his status too. On the Generation of Wrestling podcast, Aldis broke down the success of the program.
"I'm also grateful to [Rhodes] because by working with him, it helped my cache. We were one of those rare situations where, and again it's a testament to how we both look at the business and we're traditionalists, we came out of our rivalry with each other both better off," Aldis said, "It didn't just benefit him by getting to have the big win on this big show and winning the title that his father had held. It also did a lot for me because then by the time we got there, people were like, 'Man this guy is the real deal, this guy is different. This guy is special, and he does feel like a credible antagonist and a credible adversary for this guy who we really want to see win. But we don't know for sure.' That is The Sweet Spot of booking. We really want this guy to win, but we don't know for sure that it's going to happen. That's a testament to the other guy."
Cody Rhodes, The Ultimate Example
Though Rhodes won the day at All In, Aldis would come back out on top a little over a month later. Since then, both men have traveled down very different paths in their careers. Aldis said at the time, it was all a matter of going his own way and sticking to himself, something he thinks Rhodes also did.
"So I don't want to sit here and go 'Oh it's always the best way.' It was the right thing for me to do at that time, and it was the right thing for Cody to do at that time. I think it depends on your level of experience, and your level of maturity, and your willingness to take risks, and I think your self-awareness. You've got to be willing to sort of go, 'Okay how do people see me, and why is that?" Aldis explained.
"In Cody's case, I think it was the same thing. He said, 'Okay people see me as this, where I see me as this. So now, I have to go and show them this guy. I have to go show them the guy that I see because right now they only see me as this.' And it worked out. He's the ultimate example of a guy who bet on himself, and it paid off huge and I'm very happy for him, very proud of him."