Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks have a dream. A prove-Dave-Meltzer-wrong dream, which basically puts them in the same boat as at least half of wrestling Twitter, but a dream nonetheless.
The Ring of Honor (ROH) World champion has confirmed that he and his Bullet Club brothers are in the process of securing a 10,000 seat venue to run their own show in 2018. Their goal is, of course, to sell that building out.
Spent my morning amongst friends on a lil' scouting trip...#ROH10000 hopefully in 2018 pic.twitter.com/7uBTEbPkN8
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) November 19, 2017
According to the initial report from Pro Wrestling Sheet, they’ve talked to ROH about promoting, but the Sinclair Broadcasting-owned promotion apparently has some reservations, as those talks are ongoing. Rhodes and Matt and Nick Jackson are looking at self-financing the show, which they’re tentatively calling “All In”.
On Sirius XM’s Busted Open Radio yesterday (Nov. 28), Cody went into more detail on the plans while talking to Bully Ray and company. Noteably, when asked for his “perfect world, fantasy booking” main event for the show, Rhodes kept up his theme of “swinging for the damn fences”:
“Me vs. Daniel Bryan for the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship. If I could have everything, that’s what I would do.”
It’s an exciting idea, and one Cody and Bryan have teased - and Ring of Honor has encouraged - for a little while now. The current SmackDown General Manager has made no bones about his plans to get back in the ring as soon as possible, and if that means working for a company other than WWE if their doctors won’t clear him, so be it.
Bryan’s contract is said to be up in late Summer of next year. Vince McMahon probably doesn’t want to see him working for another company, perhaps especially not helping The Bullet Club accomplish a goal which will allow Cody and The Bucks to taunt WWE even more than they already do.
And in a recent appearance on Lillian Garcia’s podcast Chasing Glory, Bryan’s wife Brie Bella spoke some more on her husband’s drive to get back to wrestling, and specifically mentioned WWE as his goal. She also says the company is exploring the possibility, something Bryan himself discussed in a recent interview:
“From like, literally, the day they told him he couldn’t do it anymore, he has flown himself all over the United States to all different doctors to figure out what he could do to help turn that ‘No’ into a ‘Yes.’ There’s been like eight doctors who are like, ‘You can wrestle’. A lot of doctors can’t see why he can’t get in that ring again.
I think [the WWE is] looking at it. He is on such a mission to get back into that WWE ring...”
Bella is almost certainly staying in business with WWE, even if she never wrestles again. She and sister Nikki are tied to the company through their reality television shows on E! - and that doesn’t even cover Brie’s future brother-in-law, John Cena, and his status as the ultimate company man. While Bryan wrestling elsewhere wouldn’t end the relationship between the twins and Vince McMahon’s company, it would probably be easier for all involved to keep everyone in house.
In large part, it will be up to WWE Medical. While Vince could probably overrule any decision in his company, it’s unlikely he’d go against doctors after the public relations push which went into Bryan’s retirement.
That’s also only one impediment to getting DB on the Cody and Bucks event, or it happening at all. Even if he decides to leave WWE, would he want one of his first matches to be on a show put on by first time promoters? Should the fact ROH and New Japan aren’t willing to put up the money to run this show tell us (and Rhodes and the Jacksons) something?
While it’s almost impossible to rule anything out in the current pro wrestling landscape, Bryan vs. Rhodes at a self-financed show in a 10,000 seat venue seems like a long shot.
But if you’re gonna go “All In”...