Triple H knew there was no ‘serious malice’ in Cody Rhodes AEW throne smash
With Paul “Triple H” Levesque joining Cody Rhodes on his podcast this week, there was one topic in particular that the two had to address.
There was a moment at AEW’s inaugural show in 2019 where Rhodes, while making his entrance, took a sledgehammer and smashed a throne that was clearly supposed to look like Levesque’s. They cleared the air on “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” with Levesque saying he knew there was no serious malice in what Rhodes did. Instead of viewing it as a shot, Levesque saw it as Rhodes trying to make a name for himself by doing cool stuff.
Levesque and Rhodes’ conversation about the moment is transcribed below:
Rhodes: You never once, when I came back, asked me about clearly taking your throne, making it imagery in my entrance away from here, starting my own thing, and taking your hammer to it.
Levesque: I saw it as your hammer because it was smaller than mine [laughs]. No, look, that kind of sh*t to me is like, I remember when people brought it to me and were showing it to me and I was like, ‘F**k yeah, all right, good for him.’ You know what I mean? That’s the kind of sh*t you do, you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you’re trying to get out there, you’re trying to do some cool sh*t, trying to do some different stuff.
Believe me, if I would have thought there was malice in it, and maybe indirectly there was some at the time, I don’t know. But if I would have thought there was any serious malice in it, I would have called you and said, ‘Hey, dude, like, are we okay?’ Because I was so close to your dad, but then I always felt like a connection to you. And when you were here, and it was difficult for me when you left, because I couldn’t say like, I couldn’t over the top go like, ‘Dude, get the f**k out of here and go out there and make a name for yourself and make yourself, what you said, desirable and we’ll f**ing come chasing after you and bring you back.’ Sometimes you got to get out of the rut you’re in. You just got to bite it off and go in a different direction. Make the left turn, right? And it was so difficult, but during that time, I remember thinking like, all right, that’s getting out there. That’s being bold and making a statement.
Rhodes: You did tell me, because you said, ‘Go rattle the cages.’ And you kind of made yourself the target for me to rattle in terms of the optics of wrestling. And there was no malice for sure because this is after I won the Ring of Honor title. One of the first texts I got back to was yours: ‘Congrats.’ As I was walking to the hospital in Lowell because my lip was busted open holding my first World title.
Levesque: You know, it’s one of those things where you see somebody going off, doing their own thing, and having success. And I’m like, ‘F**k yeah, Cody. Come on.’ Like, get yourself in that spot where we’re like, ‘Hey, we should go like, I don’t know what he did different, but let’s go get him.’ You know what I mean?
Rhodes: I’m glad the feeling is good on it versus — because I’m thinking, man, if he’s mad about it, it’s a long road to whatever the payoff is.
Levesque: He’s waiting on that receipt [laughs].
Rhodes: Oh, now it’s happening [laughs].
Levesque: No, man, I never even — I never thought about anything other than, ‘F**k yeah, good for him. Go get it.’
After departing AEW in 2022, Rhodes returned to WWE and has been one of the company’s top stars since. Levesque said it’s been a “dream” to work with Rhodes in his second run.
Rhodes is currently on his third Undisputed WWE Championship reign and will defend the title against Randy Orton in the main event of WrestleMania 42 night one on April 18.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.