Cody Rhodes is back in WWE for the first time in six years, and a lot has changed since he left the company in 2016.
Rhodes went on to become an international superstar, and he helped launch All Elite Wrestling, a company that quickly became the top alternative to WWE. Rhodes was prominently featured in AEW throughout his time there, and he won the TNT Championship three times. But when he departed the promotion in February 2021, it felt inevitable that he would return to WWE. At WrestleMania 38, he did, as he was revealed at Seth Rollins’ mystery opponent. Rhdes emerged victorious to kick off this run with a major win.
In an interview with Variety ahead of the show, “The American Nightmare” explained his decision to come back to WWE. He made it clear that he’s excited, but he called it a “heavy feeling” because he can revisit the goals he started out with when he was coming up in the WWE developmental system. Rhodes then called the return “kind of a culmination of his career” and noted that being able to come back as the star he has become is vindicating.
“Everyone who knows has asked me how I’m feeling, if I’m really excited,” said Rhodes. “The answer I kind of keep giving everybody is it’s just a really heavy feeling. When I first got into wrestling, I was solely in the WWE system, and I had that dream of getting to the top. Then dreams are like rivers, as the Garth Brooks song says, and it veered and it changed. Then we were able to do what we were able to do with AEW and that’s something that I’m very proud of, but to be able to revisit the thing that I set out to do in the first place when I didn’t think I would get that chance is just heavy.
“Even now, thinking about it is heavy. So yeah, all the feelings — happy, excited, pressure, responsibility, all of it. But I don’t know how I will feel until I’m out there. It just seems like kind of a culmination of my whole career, but I don’t want to jinx it. I don’t want to put any hyperbole there, but it’s the biggest crowd in wrestling. It’s returning as me in something that I built and nobody else built. And that’s the ultimate vindication.”
Rhodes went on to explain that he told WWE’s top executives, including Vince McMahon himself, that he truly believes he’s the best wrestler in the world, and he intends to prove it now that he’s back in WWE.
“I told Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard and Nick Khan — this very small circle of individuals — I told them what I truly believe and it’s that I’m the best wrestler in the world,” said Khan. “And to go further with it, I actually don’t think there’s a close second. But with that said, the opportunity now exists to prove it, and that’s what I’m most excited about.”
When asked about leaving the company he helped build. the former AEW EVP continued by saying that he’ll continue to remain silent about it. He dismissed the theories that have been circulating since his exit and made it clear that it was simply time to move on. Rhodes also stated that it was a “personal matter” that the two sides couldn’t overcome. He commended Tony Khan, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks before he emphasized his stance that he couldn’t give up his chance to chase his dream.
“I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that,” said Rhodes. “There’s no shoot interview. There’s no nefarious tale that’s going to be told. There were all these different theories and none of them are correct. I mean, there were things about money and creative control. They were printed as fact and it’s been a very difficult two months to see that, when the reality is it was just time. It was a personal matter and we couldn’t move past it.
“I have nothing but respect for Matt [Jackson], Nick [Jackson] and Kenny [Omega]. I’m rooting for Tony Khan. His name is going to be in the history books as someone who helped to bankroll and support this entire alternative and revolution that AEW became but for me, it was just time to to move on. I get an opportunity at my dream, I get another chance at it. And you really can’t leave any stone unturned with that.”
Time will tell what Rhodes’ future with WWE holds.
