In an interview with Variety that took place in the days prior to his return at WrestleMania 38, newly-signed WWE superstar Cody Rhodes discussed his decision to return to the company, working on a Dusty Rhodes documentary, new goals in the company, staying quiet on his decision to depart All Elite Wrestling and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On how it feels knowing that he will return at WrestleMania 38: “Everyone who knows has asked me how I’m feeling, if I’m really excited. 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 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.”
On feeling a completely different performer now than when he left the WWE in 2016: “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 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. It’s a completely different individual returning to the game, it’s a different brand, it’s someone who’s experienced all the wonders of independent wrestling, of traveling internationally, of being able to get on the ground with the fans that make this whole ship move, but different person or not, I’m still that little kid that I mentioned in an AEW promo that wants what my Dad didn’t get and I’m not going to say it out loud, because I don’t want to jinx it, but you know, he went to Madison Square Garden, stood across from Superstar Billy Graham and he held it in his hands, the goal of mine, and it was taken away, because that was the content of the match. I understand that now as an adult, but as a kid, that was the only reason I ever wanted to get in, so that I could get what he didn’t get.”
On his decision to stay quiet in regards to his departure from All Elite Wrestling: “I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that. There’s no shoot interview, there’s no nefarious talent 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 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.”
On whether he will continue to be known as “The American Nightmare” upon his WWE return: “Yeah, I mean there should be no difference. To quote some of these individuals who courted me for this moment, it’s not broke, and this was a place that didn’t care for me and it wasn’t that they didn’t have love and respect for me, but as a wrestler, I wasn’t considered the most desirable, if anything, I was kind of undesirable. That’s where the whole mantra comes from, the whole promo of desirable to undeniable, to be able to return on your terms. It kind of feels like being in the military and having conquered something, or having won this battle and being able to stand and keep your chin parallel with the floor and to be able to come in that fashion, a bit of a conquering hero. That’s how I see it in my dreams.”
Rhodes also revealed that he will be an Executive Producer on an upcoming Dusty Rhodes documentary that will air on A&E.
The full interview is available at this link.
