10 Precise Moments When AEW Careers Ended

WhatCulture

Looking back on WWE man Cody Rhodes' final AEW appearance is fascinating now.

Transcript

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.

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