Cody Rhodes had a lot to lose when he decided to leave AEW for WWE.
After six years away, Cody Rhodes returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 in 2022. The American Nightmare defeated Seth Rollins on his first night back, and things have only gotten better for him from there. Fast forward four years, and Rhodes is now arguably the face of the company, with two reigns as the Undisputed WWE Champion and three WrestleMania main events under his belt.
However, at the time of his return, Rhodes felt he was taking a huge gamble with his career, leaving behind the company he helped found, AEW, and going back to the promotion he left under a cloud in 2016.
During an appearance on The Undertaker’s Six Feet Under podcast, Rhodes said he was concerned that he could be making a big mistake.
“The situation, looking back at it now, so many things were happening. I had two television shows that were on Discovery now, but Warner Media programming. I had to juggle that, I had to really weigh it out.
“Obviously, opportunity is amazing, but I had to really weigh it out. Is this a mistake, right? They didn’t see it the first time. They saw a little of it, but they didn’t see it. Is this the biggest mistake ever? You think the first time leaving is the biggest mistake ever. Coming back, my fear was like, this could be the biggest gamble of all.
“I had a good gig. I had, contrary to what you hear, and you guys know how the internet likes to internet, but I had a good gig. I had an executive job. I loved the Bullet Club guys. But evolving and moving myself forward, it was just a lot to weigh out.”
Even thinking about that period of his life was enough to give Cody Rhodes anxiety, but he reassured himself that he’s past that now.
“And again, it could have been a big — had I gone out there and belly flopped in the pool, like, it wouldn’t have hurt WWE at all. It would have been, ‘See, he wasn’t. He was Little League all along.’ You know? Now I’m getting anxiety over it now, and it’s over. We already did it, you know? We’re good, we’re good.”
Cody Rhodes Set For Another Huge WrestleMania Match
Cody Rhodes lost the Undisputed WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre under less-than-ideal circumstances on the January 9th edition of SmackDown when Jacob Fatu got involved in the Steel Cage portion of their Three Stages of Hell match. Fatu attacked McIntyre as the Scotsman tried to crawl out of the cage door, and then turned on Rhodes as well. As Fatu was attacking Rhodes, McIntyre managed to escape the cage and win the gold.
According to a new report, Cody Rhodes could get revenge on both men at WrestleMania 42, with current plans calling for either a Triple Threat match with all three men or a singles bout with just Rhodes and McIntyre.
H/T to F4WOnline for the above transcription.
