All Elite Wrestling’s Cody Rhodes was a recent guest on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. During their conversation, he was asked about WWE using the Great American Bash name in association with its upcoming special two-week NXT event.
Cody admitted he wasn’t angry about it. He mused on how some people mistakenly think Dusty Rhodes simply named Starrcade and the Great American Bash. Cody argued how it goes beyond just devising an event name. Instead, “It’s a matter of booking them, of marketing them, of the creation.”
According to Cody, Dusty Rhodes once told him that Starrcade was for his sister and that Great American Bash was for him. For that reason, both events hold a special place for them. Cody noted how it doesn’t anger him in any way as it’s an excuse for people to once again talk about his father in a positive way.
Cody Rhodes On WWE’s Marketing Nostalgia Efforts
“The American Nightmare” likened WWE’s recent use of In Your House and Great American Bash to Disney’s nostalgia marketing strategies.
“The marketing of the event reminds me a lot of what Disney currently does. If you go to Disney World, they still sell Haunted Mansion shirts and they’re all done retro-style. They market nostalgia.”
He acknowledged how his sister found NXT’s sudden Great American Bash announcement strange. Cody then reflected on how the announcement seemed to be “willy nilly, last-minute, in the strangest of ways.”
Cody Rhodes pointed to WWE’s decision to utilize the Starrcade name for a WWE Live Event. He believes this decision diminished the name value of the event and was done because “they weren’t selling any tickets in North Carolina.” He shared his hope that WWE would instead do “something special” with Great American Bash.
NXT’s Great American Bash is a two-week special airing on USA Network. It competes head-to-head with AEW’s Fyter Fest on TNT. Both events begin tonight.
