Cody Rhodes Leery Of Signing Zack Ryder; Wants To Make Sure AEW Doesn’t Become ‘All Friends Wrestling’

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Cody Rhodes Leery Of Signing Zack Ryder; Wants To Make Sure AEW Doesn’t Become ‘All Friends Wrestling’

Photo Credit: Lee South / AEW

Cody Rhodes has made it no secret that he is good friends with Zack Ryder, but he is leery of his promotion turning into “All Friends Wrestling.”

During a live Q&A on Instagram, Cody was asked whether or not Zack Ryder aka Matt Cardona, could end up in AEW. Cody was complimentary of Cardona, as he has been in the past but it was very forthwith about not wanting his promotion to turn into nepotism guaranteeing a spot on the card.

(h/t: Jeremy Lambert of Fightful.)

“Zack Ryder is the best,” said Cody. “He’s got over two million followers on Twitter and over a million followers on Instagram. Very broad influence, incredibly famous, more famous than many guys out there. But that doesn’t always translate. The biggest hurdle he’ll face is his friendship with me. He’s one of my only really close friends in wrestling. Maybe my only friend in wrestling. I have my brother (in AEW), I have my beautiful wife, and they all do the work. This can’t be All Friends Wrestling. You have to handle it the best way. If you put on the Nightmare Family jacket, you’ve got a massive bullseye on your back, just in the locker room alone. It’s a total heat seeker. But I’m looking forward to what he does next. He’ll turn a lot of heads. I think and hope our paths will cross down the road. He’s just entering wrestler prime. Men’s wrestler prime is 35 to 40.”

When Cardona was first released, Cody put up a very heartfelt Instagram post which you can see below:

View this post on Instagram

I’d like to take a moment to say how proud I am to be a friend of @zryder85 – In a world of weekend warriors and “play wrestlers”, this dude exudes passion and drive for pro-wrestling like no other. Through 14 years to see him CONSISTENTLY try to better himself(whether that be his in-ring work, or watching him physically mold himself and his body into such a specimen DRUG FREE with hard work and will). I have a little rule, and that’s that if you’ve ever “gotten over” in wrestling…you can always do so again. That rule being fully applicable to Matt now. At 34 years young, his best wrestling days are ahead of him. Cheers to a great start and 14 years of unrelenting blood, sweat, and tears. Future endeavors are limitless when you actually endeavor. I chose this picture because it was one of my last days at WWE, watching 80,000+ people applaud as Matt won gold was an eruption not only live in the arena but in the locker room as well. Hearing Dolph coordinate for his father to come over the rails(meanwhile I was ass deep into a broken ladder and stuck but had the best seat in the house) and seeing father/son embrace, I thought I’d be jealous or bitter, but I was truly happy and proud for one of my peers. Congratulations my friend, and good luck!

A post shared by Cody Rhodes (@americannightmarecody) on Apr 15, 2020 at 7:31pm PDT

As of right now, Matt Cardona is waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to subside before he begins taking bookings.