{"id":93414,"date":"2020-02-18T16:34:18","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T22:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=93414"},"modified":"2020-02-18T16:35:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T22:35:22","slug":"press-conference-highlights-cody-rhodes-discusses-not-hitting-the-ball-back-to-people-seeking-to-be-discriminatory-online-scouting-new-aew-talent-the-nightmare-factory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/02\/18\/press-conference-highlights-cody-rhodes-discusses-not-hitting-the-ball-back-to-people-seeking-to-be-discriminatory-online-scouting-new-aew-talent-the-nightmare-factory\/","title":{"rendered":"PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: Cody Rhodes discusses \u201cnot hitting the ball back\u201d to people seeking to be discriminatory online, scouting new AEW talent, the \u201cNightmare Factory\u201d where some signees have trained, love of Las Vegas and Chicago as AEW venues"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-323415979\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Prior to AEW\u2019s Dynamite Episode from Atlanta, Ga. AEW executive vice president Cody Rhodes held a press conference for assembled wrestling media. Below are the highlights of that conference:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>-When asked about events and names that Cody has registered, he mentioned that it\u2019s unlikely we would see many, \u201cwith the exception of one, hint hint\u201d. Cody said that his goal with the trademarks were to assist his mother in protecting Dusty\u2019s IP. Bash and the Beach was mentioned as not returning potentially.<\/p>\n<p>-Cody was asked who were underrated members of the AEW roster, which Cody said he wasn\u2019t comfortable using as the phrase due to its connotation of lack of push or belief from a company, but cited Jack Evans as a person he would like to see get more opportunities as a singles wrestler.<\/p>\n<p>-On Jeff Cobb, Cody mentioned that the advantage of working with a Tony Khan is the flexibility to have \u201cgestation\u201d periods of relationships with wrestlers, where they may not have them under a long term contract, but can use their talents without impeding other bookings. Cited Wrestle Kingdom as an example, and followed up with their intention being to try and get Cobb for longer term, but at this time \u201che\u2019s gotta keep it close to the vest\u201d in terms of answering media on the relationship with Cobb.<\/p>\n<p>-On the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Cody said they\u2019re going to load up with AEW appearances due to Double or Nothing 2 having a Dynamite following the event that Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>-In terms of the search for new talent, Cody said that AEW is a \u201cbell to bell\u201d company and so that will weigh heavily in any recruitment efforts.<\/p>\n<p>-Cody then was asked about the potential for a training facility, which Cody said he\u2019d taken the lead in ownership of a facility in Norcross, Georgia they\u2019ve dubbed the \u201cNightmare Factory\u201d. While it isn\u2019t officially associate with AEW, signees Anthony Ogogo and Sadie Gibbs are currently training there, and Dean Malenko has held a seminar there with 85% of the roster in attendance. It is Cody\u2019s hope that Nightmare Factory eventually is AEW affiliated.<\/p>\n<p>-Cody talked about the women\u2019s division growing, and that the criticism\/feedback cannot be ignored and you have to grow it with time. Said he didn\u2019t want to get \u201cWoke Points\u201d for having a women\u2019s division like some groups have done in the past, and wanted to note the women are doing quite well in minute to minute viewership and merchandise.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3290451648\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>-On the question of Chicago and the spirit there for wrestling, Cody noted that it\u2019s responsible for giving the company their start, and so wants to be loyal to the region. Didn\u2019t want to get in trouble with \u201crest of the office\u201d for giving away plans in the area, but mentioned more to come in the area.<\/p>\n<p>-As a follow up to my question to Tony Khan regarding wrestlers of color in the singles scene as asked by Joe Anthony Myrick of Fansided, Cody noted that there is still work to be done to have AEW reflect what America in 2020 looks like. Cody followed with saying there needed to be more folks that look like Big Swole, Private Party and Scorpio Sky in the promotion and that has continued to be the goal. Mentioned Chris Bey as a person in particular that he\u2019s been looking at as the conference was going on.<\/p>\n<p>-I asked Cody as a follow up to that question what can AEW and the EVPs do to make sure that they\u2019re about the work of diversifying the roster and their content without seeking out the \u201cwoke points\u201d he mentioned earlier. Cody said that the importance is to make less statements and to have what is on AEW Dynamite reflect their vision and mission far better that just words.<\/p>\n<p>-Cody was asked by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful about acquiring the rights to All In, and has a good relationship with ROH personnel. Cody additionally said ROH doesn\u2019t own the name, but the Massies do. Cody said his focus is on AEW but that acquisition could happen in the future.<\/p>\n<p>-Cody was asked about Val Venis\u2019 response to Nyla Rose winning the AEW Women\u2019s title, and said that \u201cif you were a fan of Val Venis back in the day you\u2019d be disappointed\u201d. Cody said that Venis is like the Disco Inferno of WWE and no one knows him anymore. Cody finished by saying you \u201ccan\u2019t give people like that oxygen\u201d and \u201cyou can\u2019t hit the ball back to them\u201d to end the propogation of their bigoted comments.<\/p>\n<p>-Cody concluded the conference discussing the possibility of AEW in Canada in 2020 and said he loved the country and would like the first show to be in Toronto. None are in the cards at present at the moment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2285702409\"><div id=\"pwtor-3648480087\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Prior to AEW\u2019s Dynamite Episode from Atlanta, Ga. AEW executive vice president Cody Rhodes held a press conference for assembled wrestling media. Below are the highlights of that conference: -When asked about events and names <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/02\/18\/press-conference-highlights-cody-rhodes-discusses-not-hitting-the-ball-back-to-people-seeking-to-be-discriminatory-online-scouting-new-aew-talent-the-nightmare-factory\/\" title=\"PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: Cody Rhodes discusses \u201cnot hitting the ball back\u201d to people seeking to be discriminatory online, scouting new AEW talent, the \u201cNightmare Factory\u201d where some signees have trained, love of Las Vegas and Chicago as AEW venues\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6163,2,4247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew-news","category-prowrestlingnews","category-interview-highlights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2019\/01\/CodyYoungBucks_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93417,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93414\/revisions\/93417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}