Arik Cannon has another name for AJ Styles to consider in the great “pay your dues” debate: Cody Rhodes. After already using Jimmy Hart to make his point about Avery Styles, Cannon returned to Twitter with a photo from Cody’s independent wrestling days showing the future WWE megastar sweeping broken glass out of the ring.
No long explanation was really necessary. Cody had already spent years in WWE by that point. He was the son of Dusty Rhodes, came from one of wrestling’s most famous families and had every reason to walk into an independent show believing he was above cleaning up afterwards. Yet there he was with a broom. And that’s exactly the argument Cannon has been making ever since his issue with Avery exploded online.
Cannon accused AJ Styles’ son of avoiding setup and teardown work at a GCW event in Minneapolis, claiming Avery was asked multiple times to help with chairs before disappearing into the locker room until everything was finished.
AJ didn’t see it that way at all. He argued that Avery was booked and paid to wrestle—not work ring crew—and eventually called Cannon a “jealous douche” as their disagreement spilled onto Twitter.
That could’ve been the end of it. Instead, Cannon started bringing receipts. First came WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart. Cannon uploaded a photo of The Mouth of the South helping with chairs after a wrestling event, effectively asking why someone with Hart’s résumé could pitch in while Avery supposedly couldn’t.
Now he’s gone considerably bigger. Cody Rhodes didn’t exactly enter wrestling as an anonymous kid with no connections. His father was The American Dream, his brother was already a WWE star and Cody himself had spent nearly a decade inside WWE before betting on himself and hitting the independent scene.
At this point, Cannon doesn’t appear particularly interested in letting the Avery Styles controversy die. AJ says his son was there to wrestle. Cannon keeps finding famous wrestlers who apparently didn’t think wrestling was the only job. And after Jimmy Hart, he’s now brought Cody Rhodes into it.
Do you think Arik Cannon’s Cody Rhodes example strengthens his argument about Avery Styles, or is it time for everyone involved to move on? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
