Triple H, WWE's Head Of Creative, Calls AEW A 'Secondary Promotion'

WWE released the long-awaited "American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes" documentary via Peacock on July 31. The two-hour special takes a look at Rhodes' entire journey from being a wrestler in high school to lacing up his boots in OVW and beyond. His time on the indies and in AEW is also addressed, which produced an interesting comment from WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

Levesque stated, "To then take that gamble again and say, 'This is not what I wanted to be. I didn't want to grow up dreaming to be the champion or the face of a secondary promotion. I wanted to be the WWE Champion.'"

"The Game" is, of course, referencing Rhodes' decision to return to WWE to pursue the WWE Championship after his AEW contract expired at the start of 2022. "The American Nightmare" has strayed away from discussing his AEW exit in the months since, but did mention in the documentary that he left over a "personal issue" that did not have to do with money or issues with other talent.

This isn't the first time Levesque has referred to AEW in a condescending manner. During his 2019 WWE Hall of Fame induction speech alongside DX, he referenced Billy Gunn's absence and stated, "Billy, let's be honest. [Vince McMahon] would buy that piss-ant company just to fire you again."

Levesque has also previously downplayed the notion of AEW "beating" "WWE NXT" in the ratings throughout 2019-21. Levesque stated, "First of all, they beat our developmental system. Good for them. There was never even the pressure of like, 'You have to beat that.' It was never that. It's, 'Put on the best product we could.'"