Eric Bischoff Comments On Cody Rhodes Leaving AEW

The news of Cody Rhodes leaving AEW sent shockwaves across the wrestling business for the past week, with many believing his next move will find him in WWE.

During the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast, Eric Bischoff spoke about Cody leaving AEW and what his immediate reaction was to the big news. The former WCW President said he was more surprised when Cody left WWE six years ago compared to this time around and stated that his father, Dusty Rhodes, was someone who also was willing to walk away from a company if need be.

"I'm not surprised, not nearly as surprised as everyone else is," Bischoff said. "And it's not because I have any inside information, it's not because I spoke to Cody, Cody and I text back and forth every couple of months. I was more surprised that Cody left WWE. You're 30 years old, on the biggest stage in the world in your particular industry and yeah, you might be saddled with a character or gimmick that you don't particularly like but you're making damn good money. You could probably retire in 5-10 years if you were smart, or less. But he was willing to walk away from that because he wasn't satisfied.

"Reminded me of his dad, I sent Cody when the news hit that he left WWE, I sent Cody a text telling him how proud I was of him and subsequently Cody called me and I remember I was in Los Angeles and it was the end of the day and we spoke briefly about it and I said 'Cody, your dad would be so proud of you.' Because Dusty was a lot like that, he was never satisfied, he always wanted something bigger and something more and he believed in himself and Dusty was willing to walk away if need be. When I heard that Cody left WWE, we had that conversation and I just told him how proud I was."

On yesterday's Monday Night RAW, Cody was referenced several times throughout the show, most significantly during Edge's promo where the Hall of Famer issued an open challenge for a WrestleMania 38 opponent to step up. It's unclear what Rhodes will do at WrestleMania as of now, but he did travel to the WWE Performance Center to film content for his WWE return.

Continuing to speak about the move by Rhodes, Eric Bischoff gave his honest opinion of why Cody decided to leave the company he was so impactful on. The WWE Hall of Famer said he admires Cody's decision to leave AEW because he knows he's receiving a lot of criticism for the move.

"I think Cody was probably sitting and looking at the landscape of where AEW was going and it didn't coincide with the vision that he originally bought into and it wasn't going to get him where he wanted to go and made a decision," Eric Bischoff said. "I'd bet a lot of money that Tony [Khan] offered up a pretty substantial sum of money that the average person walking the face of this country could retire on for like a year or two... but Cody made a decision that was different.

"He made a decision that took a lot of guts and I can't tell you how proud I am of him for putting his family first and putting his confidence on the line the way that he did. If he ends up in WWE, I'm relatively certain his future is very secure but it's not even about the money. It's about staying true to yourself and doing what you feel is right for you and your family in the long term.

"That sounds like it'd be easy but it's not, especially when you're young. 36-years-old, I still wear shoes that are older than Cody Rhodes, 36 is still a kid to me. You learn so much more after the age of 40, Cody is still so young and to be able to make that big of a decision and put himself out there, cause you know he's going to get criticized.

"You know there are going to be people that want to bury him for doing it because that's the nature of the wrestling audience. Cody is going to take some heat but he had the balls to do what's best for him and I don't know how you don't admire that."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.