In a recent interview with The Ringer Wrestling Show, newly-signed WWE superstar Cody Rhodes discussed several topics, including his decision to return to the company, being proud of his time in All Elite Wrestling and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On moving on from All Elite Wrestling to a new chapter in his life: “I’m so proud of AEW, I’m so proud of Matt, Nick and Kenny and I really want to see Tony move forward, no bad blood, in the best of ways and all the respect in the world, but the decision to come here was the easiest decision I ever made, it was just time. That show is doing well, wrestlers are getting paid that weren’t getting paid and I had a small part in making that happen, maybe a big part, I don’t know, that depends on who you ask. I’m so proud of it, but it’s one of those things, how much are you going to do for everybody else until you say, I want one for me. I felt like that tonight, I felt real good.”
On when the deal came together with the WWE: “One of the most special parts of it was Bruce and Vince himself flew down to meet me. Had that meeting not led to anything, had it just been a conversation about wrestling, sports entertainment, just a conversation on that, it would have been great closure on the last loop. I left here on the worst of terms, I talked all the smack on earth, but none of it matters, it was just, you went out and did it. I remember saying I have to be me, it has to be Kingdom, it has to be “The American Nightmare” and to hear Vince say, well it’s not broke, that’s what we’re buying was just vindication, it felt good. You spend all the time trying to prove the people wrong who doubted you and prove people right who were on board with you. In that moment, it was closure on the first loop and excitement for what’s next, it’s pretty clear what I came to do, pretty clear. There is unfinished business, for my family, there is something we never got, and I want to be the one to get it.”
On signing a multi-year WWE deal and the perception of his departure from AEW: “Perception of me is all over the place, he’s an egomaniac, he asked for all this money, it’s kind of fun to hear, but in reality, I grew up here, I was 20 years old, I didn’t know what a contract was, I was 19 when I went to OVW and now, it’s a different story, it’s not so much about, this has to be this way, it was just more of, I was the Executive Vice President of AEW, one of the founding fathers, I wanted to make sure that leaving, it was with the upmost respect and not I hope no one is lazy enough here, which no one is, to make AEW jokes or bingo hall references or anything like that. Nothing against them, it was just time for me to move on, I had wrestled everybody that I wanted to wrestle, I didn’t want to be a 15-time TNT Champion and hold the belt hostage, I wanted to move on to a different piece of leather. Nick Khan is another one, perception is reality, everyone has these opinions on Nick Khan, but that guy was the nicest guy I ever met in my life, the nicest guy, Bruce to come in, the Chairman himself, the courtship felt so good.”
The full interview is available at this link.