Of all the feuds in AEW this year, the most compelling, per Tommy Starr, is the feud between Cody Rhodes, and the fans themselves.

The dualistic nature of kayfabe vs. reality in professional wrestling can be incredible at times.  We ostensibly understand that this is a form of scripted entertainment, yet we engulf ourselves with the longstanding, preconceived notions that professional wrestling is authentic and real to the extent that we understand wrestling to be real.  The “blurring of the lines” is what makes this an art form like no other.  However, the professional wrestling business often finds itself wrestling with its fixed adversary, the fans.  To put this contextually, how often have we historically seen the fans desire and crave a particular storyline, match, finish (fall), or character to be featured, while the company insists on a particular storyline, match, finish, or character that fans have no desire to see?

Historically, the idea behind this methodology of booking in the business would be generated to garner “heat” on the heel in the storyline so that fans would pay money to see a proper finish in the end, specifically with the babyface winning.  The problem is that, because fans have become too “smart” to the business, we instinctively act on impulses through our natural tendency toward immediate gratification to see our desired outcome– booking and story progression be damned.  We, the fans, live in the artificial dualistic reality of wrestling.  However, we are not exclusive to this bizarre nature.

Cody Rhodes is subject to the same intuitionism.  Today, AEW finds itself in its current and most compelling dispute (feud) with the fans and Cody.  The story is incredibly riveting.  From the fans’ genuine perspective (pragmatic or not), Cody is a self-serving, egotistical antagonist that sees himself as a greater and more prominent deal than his character reflects on television.  They may even resent him for strategically using AEW as a platform to further launch his personal career, while partially detaching himself from the same creation that helped to re-spark those fans’ love for the same business Cody claims to share with them.  All the while, Cody does not recognize this reality as a truthful representation of his own reality.

Cody views himself as the genuine, lionheart protagonist– a savior to the business and to the disgruntled, discouraged wrestling fans that share his same values and passions for professional wrestling.  Cody maintains a common bond with the AEW fans, one that has worked in unison to successfully grow AEW’s product in a mere two-year timespan.  So how could it be that this shared bond would feasibly break?  How could Cody coherently rationalize his artificial reality with the fans’ more praxeological reality?

The truth is that praxeology is far easier to see and digest than an augmented, distorted reality.  Any pragmatist would easily determine that, based on the current reflection of AEW television, Cody’s character vision is far more difficult to rationally prove.  Therefore, the solution must be simple:

In order for Cody to reflect a more empirical version of himself on television, he must embrace his villainous nature.  He must sacrifice his sovereign, preconceived perceptions of his self-image to better reflect the truth that exists on scripted television.  However, this ideal purely exists with the understanding that Cody recognizes this truth.  Thus, we see results like what transpired on this past episode of AEW Dynamite with Malakai Black vs. Cody Rhodes.  Therefore, what is the ideal solution?  Perhaps, the most probable answer is to respond with sheer indifference.  How can one’s ego generate further validation by means of apathy and passive taming?  If the fans wants to “win” the fight over Cody’s distorted reality, booing merely feeds the beast.  Whereas, indifference and unresponsiveness can magnify one’s humility.

But all in all, who are we to judgmentally dictate a man’s true self-perception?  Humans are inherently flawed, correct?  After all, who knows Cody Rhodes better than Cody Rhodes?

Sources:

Praxeology.net . (n.d.). What the Hell is Praxeology? What the hell is praxeology? Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://www.praxeology.net/praxeo.htm.

Sharma, I. (2021, October 3). 7 unpopular opinions about Cody Rhodes (according to reddit). TheSportster. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://www.thesportster.com/cody-rhodes-reddit-unpopular-opinions-wrestling-fans/.