Triple H Breaks Silence on Cody Rhodes' Throne Smash in AEW

Before Cody Rhodes was the lead babyface and top star for a Triple H-led creative regime, he was a rogue talent on the outside of WWE trying to make a name for himself in a new company that he helped start.

That was the state of pro wrestling back in 2019. AEW was announced in January of that year and the very first show the upstart company put on was Double or Nothing from Las Vegas that May.

Rhodes made waves during the event for not only having a stellar match against his brother, Dustin Rhodes, but also because of an entrance that seemingly took a shot at Triple H.

During Rhodes' entrance at the show, he was handed a sledgehammer by his wife, Brandi Rhodes. The sledgehammer had been the weapon of choice of Triple H over the years. Rhodes proceeded to walk up the entrance ramp from the ring and came face to face with a throne that had Triple H imagery on it, and he then used the hammer to smash the throne.

Triple H was totally fine with Cody Rhodes smashing up his throne at AEW Double or Nothing in 2019

Was it a shot at Triple H, or just Rhodes trying to get himself and his new company some notoriety? Probably all of the above, but Triple H has no ill will toward Rhodes for doing it.

During an interview on the What Do You Wanna Talk About podcast with Rhodes, Triple H broke his silence and cleared the air on that entrance.

"I remember when people brought it to me and were showing it to me and I was like, ‘F--- yeah, all right, good for him,’" Triple H told Rhodes. "That’s the kind of s--- 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 s--- and trying to do some different stuff."

Triple H continued on and said that he never thought there was any kind of malice on the part of Rhodes in doing that entrance, and said that had he thought that there was, he'd have reached out to Rhodes personally because of the respect he had for his father.

"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 a connection to you."
Triple H

Triple H continued:

"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."
Triple H

Rhodes returned to the WWE in 2022 and became a world champion and the face of the company. Rhodes has wrestled in the main event of the last three WrestleManias and will once again do that this year at WrestleMania 42.

On the show, Rhodes is scheduled to defend his Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton. WrestleMania takes place on April 18 and April 19 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.