Cody Rhodes On If He's Fulfilling Too Many Roles In AEW
Since his arrival at AEW, Lance Archer has been a force to be reckoned with. With the help of Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Archer has trailed through the competition and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. Cody Rhodes has been keeping a close eye on "The Murderhawk Monster" as of late, but, he just can't seem to get behind his popularity.
"I've been careful, you know, with my response in terms of – I definitely think Lance is special," Rhodes stated on Busted Open."The fact that we were a company that had a lot of light heavyweights, and the next thing you know, we've got a division where we've got Wardlow, Luchasaurus, Lance, Mr. Brodie [Lee], you've got these big guys all of the sudden. Lance, I think, is incredibly special. I think Jake Roberts is an absolute genius. But, I still don't buy into the hype, that is Lance Archer.
"I have a weird inclination to kind of always, you know, I don't know – stiff upper lip – when it comes to, 'Oh, I was in Japan, I must be good.' Well, you know, I saw your match with Will Ospreay, and it was really great, but it's not 10 years of a body of work that supports that you're the next big thing. That said, he's really run through everything that has been put in front of him. He's a completely different kind of wrestler for AEW, so having him here is really important."
When AEW was first announced in January of 2019, Rhodes knew that once he signed on the dotted line, he was going to have many roles in the company. A year later, he believes that at this point, he doesn't know if he feels like his responsibilities are too much for him or not.
"To be fair, I don't know," Rhodes replied. "I don't know if I'm too scattered until it hits me in the face. But, it is a concern of mine because I'll give an example. Brandi and I don't have any children. But, when AEW became a thing, it was like we inherited 30 – 40 children if that makes any sense? The locker room – a lot of them look to us for their directives. Some of them look to us for advice and mentorship, and it's wonderful.
"But now, that is what my day is spent doing – communicating with everyone, even anyone who is a long-standing veteran in our industry, that's all I do. I'm staring down, straining my neck, looking down at my phone, and talking to members of our locker room. That is where I get worried, that's why I use the word scattered because I really want to make sure that going into every match, especially a big match, I have done the work, that's the slogan. I trained for this the same way that I would train for anything – on a high level, pro sports you know, situation. I won't know until I know."
Cody will face Archer for the inaugural AEW TNT Championship at AEW Double or Nothing on Sunday, May 23rd at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Boxing legend Mike Tyson will present the title to the winner.
You can listen to Cody Rhodes' full interview here. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.