It is hard to imagine a universe where Rhodes is not now a three-time WWE Champion, having been the one to beat Roman Reigns, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar throughout his run and clearly looked at like the top guy; he is heading into his fourth WrestleMania main event in a row, winning titles on TV to cement that as the case. He is about as Hulk Hogan as one could get in 2026. 

But that would also undermine how shocking his move from AEW to WWE originally was. For much of the time he had been presented much in the same way Paul “Triple H” Levesque had been for WWE, speaking as a suit in media calls and leading the company seemingly be example. 

It does often beg the question whether becoming AEW World Champion and stripping away that one significant constraint would have changed what transpired with his career as time went on. 

Does a proven main eventer/face of the company in Rhodes choose to leave AEW in 2022 like he did in real life? Maybe not. It’s not as though it will ever be known either way, and likewise the argument could be made that him winning the World title and leaving anyway might have at the detriment of the company. But that in itself is the nature of considering what could have been. 

The decision to rule Rhodes out of AEW’s main event picture is one that may well have spelled the end of his run with the company he co-founded. 

And if there had been that decision made to make him the top guy instead, perhaps both AEW and WWE’s main event pictures look a lot more different.