Add as a preferred source on Google The decision to prevent Cody Rhodes from challenging for the AEW World Championship again if he lost to Chris Jericho at Full Gear 2019 came from Cody himself.
Tony Khan revealed that in an interview with Case Lowe of Q101, as AEW builds toward AEW Dynamite: Beach Break, where Kenny Omega will have a similar stipulation at stake against MJF. If Omega loses, he will never be able to challenge for the AEW World Championship again.
“It was Cody’s idea to do that. I did have some reservations about it at the time, and he felt pretty strongly about it. That’s how it came to be. I went along because I could see why he wanted to have it, and it would certainly build unpredictability around the event.
That was a great show and a great match, Cody versus Jericho at Full Gear 2019. But the aftermath did create challenges.”
Tony Khan confirms the infamous Full Gear 2019 stipulation was Cody Rhodes’ personal idea:
— Drainmaker (@TheDrainmaker) July 7, 2026
“It was Cody’s idea to do that. I did have some reservations about it at the time, and he felt pretty strongly about it. That’s how it came to be. I went along because I could see why he… pic.twitter.com/akdiRMRh7s
In that match, Jericho retained the AEW World Championship after MJF threw in the towel for Cody, ending the match. MJF then attacked Rhodes, starting one of the company’s first major rivalries.
The stipulation ended up having real consequences throughout Cody’s AEW run. He never challenged for the world title again before leaving the company in 2022, even while remaining one of AEW’s top names during that period.
Years later, Cody himself admitted the decision was a mistake. According to him, the idea was to avoid the perception that, as an AEW executive vice president, he was using his position to make himself world champion.
Even so, Cody remained heavily featured in AEW, most notably as the inaugural TNT Champion, a title he helped establish through frequent television defenses.