10 Precise Moments When AEW Careers Ended
Looking back on WWE man Cody Rhodes' final AEW appearance is fascinating now.
Transcript
00:00 AEW has only been a company for three short years, but Tony Khan has already burned through
00:05 some big names.
00:07 Some like Cody went out with a memorable match that paved the way for All Elite's future.
00:13 Others meanwhile were hidden away on lesser seen programming.
00:16 With that in mind, I'm Adam Wilborn from WhatCulture, and these are 10 precise moments
00:21 when AEW careers ended.
00:24 10.
00:25 Joey Janela
00:26 Bad boy Joey Janela threatened to break out as a success story in AEW.
00:31 Early matches against Jon Moxley at Fyter Fest and Kenny Omega showed some faith from
00:36 the higher ups, but it was maybe never going to last.
00:40 Months later, Janela sadly began sliding down the card.
00:44 That continued until his contract expired on the 1st May 2022.
00:49 Joey's three year run came to an end before that date, though his last All Elite appearance
00:53 fell on the 1st February edition of AEW Dark.
00:57 There he lost to Lee Moriarty in a spirited back and forth, but it was obvious who was
01:03 supposed to be the star of the piece.
01:06 Janela got cradled for the pin, and as the ref's hand is just coming down for the three
01:09 count, Janela's then valet Kayla Rossi realised the end was near from ringside.
01:15 Rossi probably didn't know how correct she was at the time, or how final that pinfall
01:20 would be.
01:21 9.
01:22 Chavo Guerrero Chavo had a Cup of Coffee style run in AEW.
01:28 The long-time ex-WWE star debuted on the 21st July 2021 as Andrade El Idolo's executive
01:35 consultant.
01:36 This, on the surface, was a match made in heaven.
01:39 Chavo can talk, and it made sense to put a mouthpiece with El Idolo ASAP.
01:44 Yeah, it didn't take long until Tony Khan changed his mind on that.
01:50 Andrade decked Guerrero on the 10th September episode of Rampage after Chavo had interfered
01:55 in his match against PAC, which helped the handsome bugger score the win.
02:00 But El Idolo dropped the legend shortly after the bell had sounded, and from there Chavo
02:04 went off to film Young Rock.
02:06 And that was that.
02:07 Aside from some stuff on social media.
02:10 8.
02:11 Marco Stunt Unless you are Rey Mysterio, I think it's
02:14 fair to say there are only so many times one can work the underdog gig before it grows
02:19 a little stale.
02:20 Marco's last AEW match came on the 4th October 2021 episode of AEW Dark, Elevation.
02:28 He teamed with Fuego del Sol in a loss to Shawn Spears and Pig at Wardlow.
02:33 My apologies.
02:34 The six-minute clash went a little longer than expected, but ended when the latter smashed
02:38 Stunt with his finish and scored the easy pin.
02:41 News began circulating at the turn of the new year that Marco would be gone when his
02:46 deal ran out in May, and that proved to be the case.
02:49 But AEW had already benched Stunt and replaced him in Jurassic Express with Christian Cage.
02:55 7.
02:56 Jack Evans Remember that head-shaving angle involving
02:59 Jack Evans and Orange Cassidy on the October 2021 Rampage?
03:04 Yeah, probably not.
03:05 It'll be one of those moments in the B-Show's history that fans totally forgot about.
03:10 But that wasn't quite the end of Jack's stint in All Elite.
03:13 His final moments came in a fairly hot match against Dante Martin on the 1st March 2022
03:19 episode of AEW Dark.
03:21 Evans ate a painful-looking moonsault for the three count and then his contract lapsed
03:26 at the end of April.
03:27 In truth, it felt like Jack's run ended after the hair angle.
03:31 That totally came across like someone leaving the territory, so to speak.
03:35 Ultimately, the story also did nothing for Evans' career.
03:38 He slid further down the ranks before being released back onto the indie circuit.
03:43 I suppose you could say it's a case of hair today gone tomorrow.
03:47 6.
03:48 Stu Grayson For me, this one still stings a little bit.
03:52 Stu Grayson was a big part of the Dark Order's business before his recent release.
03:58 And his story is a bit of a quirky one.
04:00 AEW taped a 12-man tag match on the 27th April 2022.
04:05 That was set to air on the 2nd May edition of Dark Elevation.
04:10 And it did.
04:11 You know what else happened that day?
04:12 Grayson's contract with the company expired and he left.
04:15 Yes, he technically appeared on programming after he was already gone.
04:20 Stu's post-match claw pose would be his last hurrah in the promotion.
04:25 He debuted with a bang back during the first Double or Nothing pay-per-view in 2019, but
04:30 opportunities had become more limited in the increasingly overlooked Order stable since
04:35 then.
04:36 5.
04:37 Awesome Kong Awesome Kong had been cast as Brandi Rhodes'
04:41 ticket to the top of the Women's division when she burst into view during the summer
04:46 of 2019.
04:47 The deal with Kong seemed like a no-brainer.
04:50 Her experience and star power meant she could help the division develop.
04:54 Things didn't pan out as Khan and company might have intended.
04:59 Brandi's dark nightmare collective story was, at best, flat.
05:03 And Kong's looked less awesome by standing next to such a sh*t show.
05:08 Finally, All Elite decided to pull the plug by having Mel and Luther of the collective
05:12 kick the crap out of Kong following Mel's loss to Hikaru Shida on the 4th February 2020
05:18 AEW Dark episode.
05:20 Security then marched out to help Kong to the back as fans applauded her efforts and
05:24 figured a babyface turn was incoming.
05:27 That didn't happen.
05:28 Instead, she went off to start filming the doomed fourth season of Netflix's Glow and
05:33 then got released by AEW on the 1st June 2021.
05:37 4.
05:38 Big Swole Here you can see Big Swole celebrating a
05:41 two-minute win over Ali Kach on the 21st September 2021 episode of AEW Dark.
05:47 That, as it turned out, would be her last celebration in a company ring.
05:52 Things kinda got a bit messy from there and Tony Khan had a PR nightmare.
05:59 You'd have to go back to All Out 2020 for the real beginning of the end for Swole, though
06:04 there she worked a dreadful tooth and nail cinematic style brawl with Britt Baker that
06:09 proved to be a dire start to the pay-per-view.
06:12 After that, Swole only worked three more times on the A-Show Dynamite.
06:16 Frustration took hold and she went on to criticise the lack of diversity in AEW.
06:22 The resultant beef with Tony has been squashed by both sides since, but Khan did say he let
06:27 Swole's contract run out in November 2021 because he "felt her wrestling wasn't good
06:33 enough".
06:34 Not only that, but this diversity row affected other wrestlers on the roster too.
06:38 3.
06:39 Lio Rush Namely, it affected Lio Rush's career.
06:44 Rush took to Twitter and publicly called for Tony Khan to apologise for his comments on
06:48 diversity in the wake of Big Swole's own remarks.
06:52 That happened at the tail end of 2021 and it effectively brought the curtain down on
06:57 Lio's AEW run.
06:59 He wasn't seen on AEW TV after that and the promotion let his contract tick down come
07:04 February.
07:05 Let's just say that any chances Rush had of an extension went up in smoke due to this
07:10 controversy, but he did later say that he sat down to have an amicable chat with Tony
07:14 about everything.
07:15 But still, Rush's career in All Elite ended when he hopped on social media to pile on
07:20 the boss.
07:21 Rightly or wrongly, he was considered a loose cannon who wasn't nearly important enough
07:25 on programming to get away with such behaviour.
07:29 One tweet was all it took and Lio was gone.
07:32 2.
07:33 Brandi Rhodes The aforementioned Nightmare Collective idea
07:37 must be considered as one of AEW's worst from the first three years of promotional
07:42 activity, but at least the Nightmare is over.
07:46 Brandi's brawl with Paige Van Zandt on the 2nd February Dynamite proved to be Rhodes'
07:51 last showing on AEW TV.
07:53 She packed up her bags and left both her character role and her gig as Chief Brand Officer, and
07:59 together the couple officially departed AEW on the 15th February.
08:04 1.
08:05 Cody Rhodes No prizes for guessing that this entry was
08:09 going to be the one topping this list.
08:11 The final year or so of Cody's AEW run will always be a talking point.
08:16 Booze started to rain down on him during a 2021 feud with Malakai Black, and fans even
08:22 tossed his weight belt back towards the ring on the Thanksgiving Eve edition of Dynamite.
08:28 Things were not going well on the babyface front.
08:31 Wheels were spinning in Rhodes' head backstage too.
08:35 He's since claimed that Dan Lambert handing him the old WWWF title, a belt his father
08:41 had held unofficially in the 70s, reignited his lust for WWE gold.
08:47 A now or never thought entered Cody's head and he decided to make a grand return to Vince
08:52 McMahon's promotion.
08:54 Before leaving, Rhodes lost a fantastic TNT title ladder match to Sammy Guevara on the
08:59 26th January episode of Dynamite.
09:02 There, on AEW's flagship, he could be seen selling on the mat post-defeat.
09:07 Cody's eyes darted around the place, but they'd soon be firmly focused on WrestleMania
09:12 38.
09:13 And that's our list.
09:15 Did we miss any out?
09:16 Let us know in the comments section below.
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09:29 me on there @AdamWillBorn.
09:31 Thanks for watching, I've been Adam from WhatCulture, and I'll see you soon.