Bill Apter, who along with Dave Meltzer (f4wonline) and Stu Saks (PWI), are perhaps the forefathers of pro wrestling journalism in my eyes. Apter of course works as a writer/journalist and photographer, and according to his Wikipedia page, worked primarily for Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
Of course he worked and submitted work to many other publications. Like Dave Meltzer and Saks, his face is a recognizable one. He appears on many pro wrestling documentaries and like the other two gents, his opinion is considered golden, by many in the industry—this writer included.
He spoke with Wrestling Inc. Daily recently and shed some possible insight into what may be happening with Cody Rhodes in the near future. He weighed in also on the purchase of ROH by Tony Khan and the possibility of a recent ex-WWE star’s place in that new Ring Of Honor platform soon to bloom under Tony Khan’s ownership.
Cody of course left AEW—seemingly—and the rumors ran rampant that he would be headed back to WWE, and although that doesn’t look as promising as it did say, two weeks ago, Apter still feels that it is more than likely that he goes back to WWE, despite the purchase of ROH.
via ROH /YouTube
Many believed that Cody would return to oversee ROH, but Apter sticks to the original rumors that flooded the internet when Cody left AEW. He said:
“At this point, yeah…The fans obviously, even though AEW fans a lot of them say they don’t watch WWE, they do. I see Cody coming out, I thought when AJ Styles came out last week, I thought that was going to be Cody Rhodes, by the way. I saw that the people were thinking that too, you knew people were anticipating that. All they have to do is, ‘ladies and gentleman, The American Nightmare.’ …
He’s already made his reputation, he’s been all over social media for three years, and the recent years where he’s become The American Nightmare and all this. Everybody knows who he is, and WWE could do the whole thing if Vince was in the broadcast position, ‘oh my god, what is he doing? Get the security.’ It would be a great angle.”
But if not Cody, then who can head the new ROH platform, or at least be a massive part of it? Well, according to the legendary pro wrestling journalist, there’s only one man for the job:
“I do think that one of the people that Tony Khan is interested in, and he was with Ring Of Honor for such a long time, is Cesaro. I think he’s going to be (involved). The other chatter going around is the rumor, and I’ve tried to track this down, and I can’t get any answers yet. I’ve got my people out there…”
via Bill Apter on Wrestling Inc. Daily /Wrestling Inc. (Transcription)
Yet despite his previous statements, he doesn’t rule out the possibility for Cody either, if that makes any sense.
“This whole thing was planned to make this into a separate company (conjecture)…So, I don’t know, it’s all the rumors of course that everyone in the WWE dressing room is all excited because Cody is going to be coming in and this and that.
But, can you imagine the swerve that this would be at this point? You know, the cliché of all time is now going to come out of my mouth, ‘never say never.’”
via Bill Apter on Wrestling Inc. Daily /Wrestling Inc. (Transcription)
Like an epic pro wrestling journalist should do, he’s building hype and asking more questions than he’s answering, but he’s totally right. Either possibility for a future for Cody Rhodes would shake up the pro wrestling industry in so many ways.
I don’t think I have posted this in print, but I have thought it & said it to myself since the first AEW show I saw: Whether he uses the name or not, Cody Rhodes is the American Nightmare to the wrestling business.
Tim Church
March 8, 2022 at 5:38 pm
I don’t think I have posted this in print, but I have thought it & said it to myself since the first AEW show I saw: Whether he uses the name or not, Cody Rhodes is the American Nightmare to the wrestling business.