Dylan jackson
WWE professional wrestlers are called superstars. It’s a nifty marketing tool to distinguish your list from the general industry, but it also rings true. WWE superstars have a level of celebrity that most professional wrestlers will not achieve. As a result, WWE talent is often tied to their WWE characters. The WWE Backlash main event in France this Saturday is a rare example of the opposite.
AJ Styles challenges Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE Championship in Lyon, France. It is the first meeting between two artists who spent significant parts of their careers in WWE, but are forever linked to their work outside of it. Two-time WWE Champion Styles has been a full-time WWE roster member longer than The Rock, but he will forever be lauded as the thrilling, high-flying technical wizard who inspired a generation of wrestlers elsewhere.
Styles joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2014 following a messy divorce from his longtime home promotion, TNA Wrestling. He spent his tenure as the face of the Bullet Club, New Japan’s modern equivalent of WCW’s New World Order. The faction welcomed future WWE Champions Styles, Rhodes and Finn Balor (its original founder), future AEW Champions Kenny Omega, “Hangman” Adam Page and The Young Bucks and many other notable names. Styles’ evolution in Japan, which included two world title reigns, proved that he wasn’t just “Mr. TNA”, but a world-class talent in the main event.
“I think it was a moment where we said, ‘Let’s have fun.’ And if you can have fun, people will have fun with you,” Styles told CBS Sports about his time as leader of Bullet Club. “That’s exactly what we did…”
“The only thing is, we weren’t handcuffed when we were in Japan. No way. We could say and do whatever we wanted.”
Styles arrived in WWE as a surprise entrant in the 2016 Royal Rumble. He admittedly had no idea if the WWE fanbase would recognize him. The crowd watched in silent confusion as an unfamiliar theme song played in the arena. But as soon as the words “Phenomenal” appeared on the big screen, the fans erupted into one of the loudest roars you’ve ever heard. It was validation that hard work done outside of WWE can be recognized. Just months after the independent scene’s most beloved veteran walked through the WWE curtain, Rhodes was on his way out.
Starting out in a WWE feeder system – Ohio Valley Wrestling – as the son of “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes guaranteed Rhodes an early advantage. But in 2016, he was confronted with the soul-sucking Stardust gimmick. He was a cartoonish cosmic supervillain in the style of his half-brother, Goldust, and far from a main event. Four months after Styles signed with WWE, Rhodes asked for and was released.
“Cody and I passed,” Styles said. “He came to Japan just like I came to WWE.”
Rhodes executed his career reinvention in the reverse order of Styles. Entering the world of independent wrestling for the first time, Rhodes hit all of Styles’ old stomping grounds. He joined Ring of Honor and TNA before signing with NJPW while using the nickname “The American Nightmare”, which he took back to WWE six years later. Rhodes quickly joined the Bullet Club, played a key role in the “Civil War” storyline, and was a founding member of the All Elite Wrestling promotion – WWE’s biggest North American competitor since WCW folded in 2001.
“I think as I get older, I’ll probably wax poetic and become even more passionate about the things I’ve been able to be a part of,” Rhodes previously told CBS Sports. “The people I got to work with. When we were a group, The Bullet Club, The Elite, the idea was to change the world. We really changed, at least our world.”
Rhodes and Styles enter Backlash with conflicting desires to be world champion. It’s a scripted art form, but the competitive effort to prove the superior artist is very much alive. Still, Styles has deep sympathy and respect for what his Saturday dance partner has overcome over the past eight years. The man who defeated Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 is not the wide-eyed son of the “American Dream” or a gold-painted cosmic henchman. It’s “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, a man decidedly his own.
“I know what it’s like to bet on myself and that’s exactly what Cody did,” Styles said. “He knew he was worth a lot more than they were giving him at the time. He had to go and show them and prove to them, ‘Hey, man. I don’t have to be Stardust. I can do what needs to be done.’ I can be a top guy if you give me the opportunity. He showed them by going somewhere else, I understand that perfectly.
Fun has served Bullet Club well as a guiding principle. It’s an ethos that is currently leading WWE into a new era under the direction of WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, aka Triple H. Levesque was primarily responsible for bringing Styles into the WWE fold in 2016 and now runs the ship that reintroduced Styles. to the main event scene. Levesque echoed the same sentiments about fun as he gathered the superstars backstage minutes before WrestleMania 40 aired.
“We are having fun. I want everyone to have fun,” Levesque he said at the WrestleMania 40 post-show press conference. “When the signing was playing, I picked up the headset and said, ‘The biggest thing we want to remember tonight, guys, have fun. If it’s fun, everyone loves it. If we have fun doing it, you’ll enjoy watching it.
Styles has wrestled all over the world for a quarter century, working under various leaderships in major promotions including WWE and WCW. Styles praised Levesque as a caring and compassionate leader who rejuvenated WWE’s historically cruel environment.
Check out the full interview with AJ Styles below.
“He’s really smart and he really cares,” Styles said. “That’s what we need. We need someone who not only wants to put out a great product, but who cares about the people who work for it and doing the best they can.”
“I can appreciate that he cares about Cody because I saw so many talents that had a right to be in WWE, but we didn’t give them enough time to develop,” Styles added. “I feel like we kind of ruined their lives to a certain extent because this is the pinnacle of wrestling and we just said, ‘You’re not good enough. I hate that. That’s not true, mind you, but it’s what we say by doing what we do. I don’t think Triple H is willing to do that without giving someone a chance.
