Tony Schiavone recently commented on AEW fans booing Cody Rhodes as of late during an episode of Ask Tony Live! on AdFreeShows.com. Schiavone noted that there are plenty of fans still cheering for Cody.
“Cody has a reality show and he gets his own special entrance. I understand he’s getting booed, but he gets cheered a lot too. I’m in the arena so I can hear it and see it much more than you guys can. I think he got cheered as much as he got booed in Orlando, it’s just the people who boo are much louder and more obnoxious,” Schiavone said.
“I even saw pictures afterwards of guys who were taking selfies with him saying, ‘Hey, I booed him, but he’s a great guy’, which he is. When Justin Roberts started calling him ‘The Prince of Wrestling’, that kind of stuck in people’s craw as well,” Schiavone continued.
Schiavone continued to say that Cody being an EVP in the company plays a role in how fans are responding to him. There may be a perception that he receives preferential treatment because of his role in the AEW office.
“Obviously, he’s an EVP so everybody thinks that he gets preferential treatment, and that’s not true. I mean, he lost the first two matches to Malakai Black, so he hasn’t won all of his matches. He lost to Brodie (Lee). It’s not that he wins every match he’s in. Some people just don’t like him. I happen to like him because I like his family.”
Cody Rhodes and Malakai Black React To Match On Dynamite
Rhodes cut a promo this week on Dynamite making it clear he would never turn heel. He stated that would be the easy thing for him to do. Rhodes also stated that he would not go back on the stipulation that says he can never challenge for the AEW World Championship again.
Following his loss to Cody Rhodes in their 3rd match, Malakai Black took to social media to offer comment. He stated that their rivalry was not about wins and losses and that he’s made it so that the world hates Cody. Black made his comments in an Instagram post not long after the loss.
Transcriptions via EWrestlingNews