Looking back on WWE man Cody Rhodes' final AEW appearance is fascinating now.
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00:00AEW has only been a company for three short years, but Tony Khan has already burned through
00:06some big names, some, like Cody, went out with a memorable match that paved the way
00:11for All Elite's future.
00:13Others, meanwhile, were hidden away on lesser-seen programming.
00:17With that in mind, I'm Adam Wilborn from WhatCulture, and these are 10 Precise Moments
00:21When AEW Careers Ended.
00:2410.
00:25Joey Janela
00:27Bad boy Joey Janela threatened to break out as a success story in AEW.
00:31Early matches against Jon Moxley at Fyter Fest and Kenny Omega showed some faith from
00:36the higher-ups, but it was maybe never going to last.
00:40Months later, Janela sadly began sliding down the card.
00:44That continued until his contract expired on the 1st of May 2022.
00:48Joey's three-year run came to an end before that date, though.
00:52His last All Elite appearance fell on the 1st of February edition of AEW Dark.
00:57There he lost to Lee Moriarty in a spirited back-and-forth, spirited, but it was definitely
01:02obvious who was supposed to be the star of the piece.
01:06Janela got cradled for the pin, and as the ref's hand is just coming down for the three
01:10count, Janela's then-valet Kayla Rossi realised the end was near from ringside.
01:15Rossi probably didn't know how correct she was at the time, or how final that pinfall
01:20would be.
01:229.
01:23Chavo Guerrero
01:24Chavo had a cup-of-coffee-style run in AEW.
01:28The long-time ex-WWE star debuted on the 21st of July 2021 as Andrade El Idolo's executive
01:36consultant.
01:37This, on the surface, was a match made in heaven.
01:40Chavo can talk, and it made sense to put a mouthpiece with El Idolo ASAP.
01:44Yeah, it didn't take long until Tony Khan changed his mind on that.
01:50Andrade decked Guerrero on the 10th of September episode of Rampage, after Chavo had interfered
01:55in his match against PAC, which helped the handsome bugger score the win.
02:00But El Idolo dropped the legend shortly after the bell had sounded, and from there Chavo
02:05went off to film Young Rock.
02:06And that was that, aside from some stuff on social media.
02:108.
02:11Marco Stunt
02:12Unless you are Rey Mysterio, I think it's fair to say there are only so many times one
02:16can work the underdog gig before it grows a little stale.
02:20Marco's last AEW match came on the 4th of October 2021 episode of AEW Dark, Elevation.
02:28He teamed with Fuego del Sol in a loss to Shawn Spears and Pig at Wardlow.
02:33My apologies, the six-minute clash went a little longer than expected, but ended when
02:38the latter smashed Stunt with his finish and scored the easy pin.
02:42News began circulating at the turn of the new year that Marco would be gone when his
02:46deal ran out in May, and that proved to be the case.
02:49But AEW had already benched Stunt and replaced him in Jurassic Express with Christian Cage.
02:557.
02:56Jack Evans
02:57Remember that head-shaving angle involving Jack Evans and Orange Cassidy on the October
03:022021 Rampage?
03:03Yeah, probably not.
03:04It'll be one of those moments in the B-Show's history that fans totally forgot about.
03:10But that wasn't quite the end of Jack's stint in All Elite.
03:14His final moments came in a fairly hot match against Dante Martin on the 1st of March 2022
03:19episode of AEW Dark.
03:21Evans ate a painful-looking moonsault for the three count and then his contract lapsed
03:26at the end of April.
03:27In truth, it felt like Jack's run ended after the hair angle.
03:31That totally came across like someone leaving the territory, so to speak.
03:35Ultimately, the story also did nothing for Evans' career.
03:38He slid further down the ranks before being released back onto the indie circuit.
03:43I suppose you could say it's a case of hair today, gone tomorrow.
03:486.
03:49Stu Grayson
03:50For me, this one still stings a little bit.
03:53Stu Grayson was a big part of the Dark Order's business before his recent release, and his
03:58story is a bit of a quirky one.
04:01AEW taped a 12-man tag match on the 27th of April 2022.
04:06That was set to air on the 2nd of May edition of Dark Elevation.
04:10And it did.
04:11You know what else happened that day?
04:12Grayson's contract with the company expired and he left.
04:15Yes, he technically appeared on programming after he was already gone.
04:20Stu's post-match claw pose would be his last hurrah in the promotion.
04:25He debuted with a bang back during the first Double or Nothing pay-per-view in 2019, but
04:30opportunities had become more limited in the increasingly overlooked Order stable since
04:35then.
04:365.
04:37Awesome Kong
04:39Awesome Kong had been cast as Brandi Rhodes' ticket to the top of the women's division
04:44when she burst into view during the summer of 2019.
04:48The deal with Kong seemed like a no-brainer.
04:50Her experience and star power meant she could help the division develop.
04:55Things didn't pan out as Kong and company might have intended.
04:59Brandi's dark nightmare collective story was, at best, flat, and Kong's looked less
05:05awesome by standing next to such a shitshow.
05:09Finally, All Elite decided to pull the plug by having Mel and Luthor of the collective
05:12kick the crap out of Kong following Mel's loss to Hikaru Shida on the 4th of February
05:172020 AEW Dark episode.
05:20Security then marched out to help Kong to the back as fans applauded her efforts and
05:24figured a babyface turn was incoming.
05:27That didn't happen.
05:29Instead she went off to start filming the doomed fourth season of Netflix's Glow,
05:33and then got released by AEW on the 1st of June 2021.
05:374.
05:38Big Swole Here you can see Big Swole celebrating a
05:41two-minute win over Ali Kach on the 21st of September 2021 episode of AEW Dark.
05:48That, as it turned out, would be her last celebration in a company ring.
05:53Things kinda got a bit messy from there, and Tony Khan had a PR nightmare.
06:00You'd have to go back to All Out 2020 for the real beginning of the end for Swole, though
06:04there she worked a dreadful tooth-and-nail cinematic style brawl with Britt Baker that
06:09proved to be a dire start to the pay-per-view.
06:12After that, Swole only worked three more times on the A-Show Dynamite.
06:17Frustration took hold, and she went on to criticise the lack of diversity in AEW.
06:22The resultant beef with Tony has been squashed by both sides since, but Khan did say he let
06:27Swole's contract run out in November 2021 because he felt her wrestling wasn't good
06:33enough.
06:34Not only that, but this diversity row affected other wrestlers on the roster too.
06:393.
06:40Lio Rush
06:41Namely, it affected Lio Rush's career.
06:44Rush took to Twitter and publicly called for Tony Khan to apologise for his comments on
06:48diversity in the wake of Big Swole's own remarks.
06:52That happened at the tail end of 2021, and it effectively brought the curtain down on
06:57Lio's AEW run.
06:59He wasn't seen on AEW TV after that, and the promotion let his contract tick down come
07:04February.
07:05Let's just say any chances Rush had of an extension went up in smoke due to this controversy,
07:11but he did later say that he sat down to have an amicable chat with Tony about everything.
07:16But still, Rush's career in All Elite ended when he hopped on social media to pile on
07:21the boss.
07:22Rightly or wrongly, he was considered a loose cannon who wasn't nearly important enough
07:26on programming to get away with such behaviour.
07:29One tweet was all it took, and Lio was gone.
07:332.
07:34Brandi Rhodes
07:35The aforementioned Nightmare Collective idea must be considered as one of AEW's worst
07:40from the first three years of promotional activity, but at least the Nightmare is over.
07:46Brandi's brawl with Paige Van Zandt on the 2nd February Dynamite proved to be Rhodes'
07:51last showing on AEW TV.
07:54She packed up her bags and left both her character role and her gig as Chief Brand Officer, and
08:00the couple officially departed AEW on the 15th February.
08:051.
08:06Cody Rhodes
08:07Yep, no prizes for guessing that this entry was going to be the one topping this list.
08:11The final year or so of Cody's AEW run will always be a talking point.
08:17Booze started to rain down on him during a 2021 feud with Malakai Black, and fans even
08:22tossed his weight belt back towards the ring on the Thanksgiving Eve edition of Dynamite.
08:28Things were not going well on the babyface front.
08:31Wheels were spinning in Rhodes' head backstage too.
08:35He's since claimed that Dan Lambert handing him the old WWWF title, a belt his father
08:41had held unofficially in the 70s, reignited his lust for WWE gold.
08:47A now or never thought entered Cody's head, and he decided to make a grand return to Vince
08:52McMahon's promotion.
08:54Rhodes lost a fantastic TNT title ladder match to Sammy Guevara on the 26th January episode
09:01of Dynamite.
09:02There, on AEW's flagship, he could be seen selling on the mat post-defeat.
09:06Cody's eyes darted around the place, but they'd soon be firmly focused on WrestleMania
09:1338.
09:14And that's our list.
09:16Did we miss any out?
09:17Let us know in the comments section below and don't forget to like, share and subscribe.
09:20And you can find me on Twitter at WhatCultureWWE and you can find me on there at Adam Wilborn.
09:31Thanks for watching, I've been Adam from WhatCulture and I'll see you soon.