Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV | Tagged: aew, Cody Rhodes, full gear, wrestling

Cody Defends Lack of Build for AEW Women's Title Match at Full Gear

Published Sat, 07 Nov 2020 17:05:59 -0600

Cody Rhodes held a conference call with the media a few days before AEW Full Gear. One thing he was asked about was some fan disappointment with the build, or lack thereof, for the AEW Women's Championship match in which Hikaru Shida will defend the title against Nyla Rose. Criticism of AEW's handling of its women's division is nothing new. It's undeniable that women are not featured as frequently on AEW Dynamite as the men or as often as women are featured on WWE or Impact Wrestling shows.

AEW Full Gear key art for the PPV's matches (Image: AEW).

Cody sidestepped the question somewhat, lavishing praise on Shida and accusing fans of being conditioned by WWE to only want "War and Peace" style stories attached to every match. Cody put over AEW as "sports-centric" as a contrast.

"Of course, I personally am not disappointed because my outlook on wrestling is there's a wrestling ring and we have wrestlers, and we have rankings, and there will be matches," Cody said upon learning some fans were disappointed with the perceived lack of build to the AEW Women's Championship match. "I do understand that for the last 20 years, fans have been conditioned to think that every match is going to start with an invisible camera and a piece of cake and catering, and someone takes that last piece of cake, and now there's drama. Now there is a quote, storyline. In our case, sports-centric. We're right back to it. I meant it when I said it."

"I hope folks aren't disappointed when they get this actual wonderful match between two incredible female performers," Cody continued. "Shida. There is no one better, no one better than Shida. And I'm talking about our women's division, our men's division. But I am aware that for 20 years, they've been conditioned to every match needs to have a War and Peace story connected to it. That will not be the case in AEW. We have wrestling matches because we're a wrestling show. It's in the title. And I hope if there was any disappointment in the build, there will be no disappointment in the execution."

AEW Full Gear takes place at 8 PM Eastern tonight on PPV.

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