Cody Rhodes Believes There’s A Place For Deathmatch Wrestling On TV

AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes has revealed his stance on TV deathmatches, following the recent Fight for the Fallen “No Rules” bout.

At the July 28 Fight for the Fallen show, Chris Jericho defeated Nick Gage in a brutal deathmatch. Cody Rhodes has stated that in his opinion, these type of matches do have a place on TV, as long as they don’t take place too often.

Speaking during a recent AEW conference call, Rhodes pointed out that the Fight for the Fallen show was extremely successful. Praising Jericho and Gage for their efforts, Rhodes said:

“I think the match was as advertised. Chris Jericho, or that night, ‘The Painmaker’, and Nick Gage, were very clear about a deathmatch and what you were going to get. It went on in the second hour and it was indeed as advertised. I, before AEW was a thing, considered doing a deathmatch with Matt Tremont. I had really heavily considered it, and I never pulled the trigger on that. But that was indeed a deathmatch.

“And I think the answer to your question about does it have a place in television, well, we were the number one show on cable. And that is a huge honor, three weeks in a row. That’s a huge honor and responsibility to our fanbase, during the Olympics we were the number one show on cable! So yes, I think it does have a place. I don’t think it is something you will see often. That’s just my opinion, as asked for.”

“I don’t think it’s something you’ll see often. And I think it’s important that you balance your show out with, sure there was this deathmatch between ‘The Painmaker’ and Nick Gage, an unbelievable match. But also, there are wrestlers on our roster who try to present a little bit more of a family aspect to what they do, a little bit more clean-cut.

“There are wrestlers who are a little bit more geared towards children in terms of building a younger fanbase. And that’s what really makes this wonderful buffet of wrestling. So, yeah, I do think there is a place for (deathmatch wrestling). I don’t think it’s something you’ll see often on our product, but there’s definitely a place for it. And kudos to those guys for putting themselves through that and having a great main event.”

At the August 4 Homecoming show, Rhodes hinted at a wrestling retirement after losing to Malakai Black in the former NXT Champion’s AEW in ring debut.

Black has revealed that a key part of his WWE entrance was originally intended for The Undertaker.

Quote via Wrestling Inc. 

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• deathmatch
• Hardcore
• Cody Rhodes
• AEW

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