WWE Hall Of Famer Diamond Dallas Page has accused AEW fans of not appreciating Cody Rhodes when he was with the company.
Cody Rhodes was a founding member of All Elite Wrestling and acted as an on-screen performer as well as an Executive Vice President for the company when it launched in January of 2019.
The former AEW TNT Champion was a babyface for the majority of his run in AEW, but began to see the fans turn on him during his final few months with the company.
DDP is a close friend of Rhodes and spoke of his surprise at the fans’ change in attitude towards ‘The American Nightmare’ on a recent edition of his ‘DDP Snake Pit’ podcast:
“I couldn’t believe the guy who made all this happen, and he’s the guy that made it happen, how they turned on him… after he took Darby to a 20 minute Broadway… and put Max over and put over so many guys it didn’t make any sense.”
Rhodes left AEW in February and returned to WWE, making his re-debut against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38 and receiving a hero’s welcome from the WWE audience.
DDP believes the WWE fans have kept an eye on Rhodes since his departure from the company in 2016 and are now thrilled to have him back on the roster:
“They watched what he did, and they appreciated him, they wanted him back. Then for the matches that him and Seth Rollins had were just unbelievable, but there’s a guy who’s had a pedigree better than anybody, the American Dream’s kid, and he couldn’t get past this mid-ground. When he was younger he was up a bit higher… but he came right back down and he was never going to go up higher. He had to leave.”
Cody Rhodes is currently side-lined through injury, but reports have suggested that he is targeting next year’s Royal Rumble as a potential return date.
H/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.