Cody Rhodes Clarifies His AEW Promo 'Focus Group' Comments

Cody Rhodes has been doing the media rounds ahead of the Double Or Nothing pay-per-view and when discussing his 'American Dream' promo, the former TNT Champion said it was workshopped and focus-group-tested.

The American Nightmare has since clarified those comments and admitted on a media call that he doesn't use a focus group when putting together his promos. 

"I'm gonna chalk this up to me not knowing what the term 'focus group' means. Because I woke up this morning to a very large amount of people in my mentions, almost all of them with a Roman [Reigns] or a Sasha Banks avatar making fun of me for using the term 'focus group'. I did not focus group this promo. What I intended to say and I did not say correctly, so chalk this up to me being a dummy, I work on my promos very hard," Cody said. 

"And a lot of the old-timers who said, 'Oh I was just doing it on the fly.' I would say they worked on there's very hard, whether that be in the gym, whether it be in the car looking in the rearview. When it comes to my promos, the process is usually I voice memo it out to the people I trust the most. The legends in our industry, some coaches and some members of management and I like to see what they think.

"But absolutely not, there is no AEW focus group that is listening to my interviews. I would just chalk up my passion and love for promos, I got to see a really great working relationship first-hand between Brian Gewirtz and The Rock. And I know that is a very lofty comparison but it's one to shoot for because him being such an exceptional entertainer and promo," he continued.

"So I like to take mine very seriously. I like to be all business about them and last year I was so fortunate and humbled to have won a bunch of those promo awards, like with Inside The Ropes and various outlets like that, that I just want to continue to deliver really good content whenever I put the mic to my lips."

Cody will be in action at Double Or Nothing against Anthony Ogogo in a match that has been framed as the patriotic American fighting to vanquish the evil foreigner.