Report: AEW Signing Bryan Danielson, CM Punk "Changed The Dynamic" For Cody Rhodes

2021 was a big year for All Elite Wrestling and two major stars in Bryan Danielson and CM Punk joined the promotion along with other big names like Adam Cole, Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo and Kyle O'Reilly. 

One of AEW's founders in Cody Rhodes departed the promotion on Tuesday, though, and The American Nightmare is expected to return to WWE. 

According to PWTorch's Wade Keller, the signings of Punk and Danielson affected the odds of Cody re-signing with AEW after his contract expired in December 2021, with it being noted that "Cody asked for more money than what Tony Khan was willing to spend." Both Khan and Rhodes also realised The American Nightmare had become "expendable."

"Cody wanted to be a superstar, and AEW signing big-money contracts, especially with Bryan Danielson and CM Punk, changed the dynamic to a degree with Cody. And I'm not saying this wouldn't have happened if that didn't happen. But Cody knew and Tony knew that Cody became expendable," Keller began.

"You know, he went from a clear essential top tier guy, top four talent in the company. And you know, Cody was fine obviously with Moxley being signed, and with Jericho being signed. Jericho was a huge boon to the AEW brand at the beginning. And Moxley was a great acquisition and disgruntled with WWE and not really a threat to Cody, because he was just so different than Cody, even if they're not too far off in age. But Danielson and Punk and then Adam Cole to a lesser extent, changed things certainly more than Malakai Black or Miro or Christian changed things," he continued.

"And it did give Tony a sense of 'I have enough top guys and then young guys on the rise' that it took some leverage away from Cody, in terms of 'you need me, pay me' and there's only so much salary-cap room that Tony has to spread around. And he had the good fortune to have Punk and Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole become available to him, but they were expensive. 

"The top guys in WCW had the clause in their contract that if anyone got paid more than them, their contracts would go up to match it. And they knew politically that if you're not the top paid person, you by definition lose leverage with the boss, with the network, with your co-workers, your peers. And Cody was no longer a top-paid guy. And my understanding is he wanted to be and to a degree that just wasn't seen by Tony as what he was worth to him in the current landscape. But it's complicated and there's not a single factor that plays into this because Cody might have been worth it if he weren't getting booed and he wasn't the subject of ridicule online and in buildings and frankly, behind the scenes in various ways."

H/T to WrestlingNews.co