Cody Rhodes parted ways with AEW back in 2022 after being a big part for three years and there’s no doubt a lot changed after they left. That’s why it’s no surprise that Tony Khan has been accused of neglecting AEW after Rhodes’ departure.
While speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestlebinge, Jake Hager shared his thoughts about working in AEW and how things changed behind the scenes. He said there were people around Tony Khan who helped with the storylines, but no one had the power to say no to him or challenge his ideas.
Hager believes things got worse after Cody Rhodes left because Cody Rhodes used to be heavily involved in the creative process. Without him, everything felt like a free-for-all.
“There are yes-men that help him write his storylines, but there’s no one there who can actually tell him no. I think everything changed after Cody left, because he was involved with creative, and after that, it became a free-for-all.”
Hager mentioned that even Chris Jericho had trouble getting in touch with Tony, saying Tony didn’t respond to messages for weeks. This made it seem like AEW just wasn’t a big priority for Tony anymore and it was neglected.
Production meetings stopped happening, and the team didn’t get important show information until late in the day, sometimes as late as 5 PM on the day of the show. Hager pointed out that this is not normal for a live TV show and only works because AEW has money behind it.
“Chris obviously had a big say in what he was doing, but even Chris was telling me Tony wasn’t responding to his messages for two weeks.
So it got to a point where either AEW was important or it wasn’t—and it just seemed like it wasn’t to him anymore. They stopped doing production meetings. They stopped doing anything to make the show feel timely.
We’d be sitting around until 5 PM just to find out what we were doing that day. What live television show runs like that? Only one with a lot of money behind it.”
Trying to share new ideas with Tony Khan was also difficult. Wrestlers had to wait until 1 or 2 AM after the show, just to get a moment with him. Even then, Khan wouldn’t always give them his full attention.
If he did respond, the answers felt half-hearted. For example, when Hager suggested an idea, Tony replied with something vague like saying he didn’t see Hager in a tag team with Sammy Guevara, and that was the end of it.
“If you wanted to pitch an idea, you’d be waiting at the building until 1 AM or 2 AM after the show, just hoping to get a moment. And even then, you never had his full attention.
And if you did get his attention, he’d hit you with some vague, half-hearted response like, ‘Oh, I see you in a tag team with Sammy Guevara. I don’t really see you doing that.’ That was it. That’s all you’d get.”
Jake Hager’s comments suggest that when Cody Rhodes left AEW, it created a big gap in leadership and planning. Cody Rhodes had helped organize creative ideas, and without him, things became less controlled. Regardless, AEW is still carrying on without Rhodes for better or for worse.
Do you think AEW has suffered creatively since Cody Rhodes left, or has the company continued to grow despite these issues? Sound off in the comments.
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