Cody Rhodes has given a timeline for his retirement and says he wants to take risks on his way out.
Cody Rhodes played a major part in John Cena‘s retirement tour in 2025, with Cena defeating the American Nightmare to win his 17th World Title at WrestleMania 41, and losing it back to him at that year’s SummerSlam.
In an interview with Luke Owen of WrestleTalk, Rhodes said he learned a lot from how Cena handled his retirement, then revealed he plans to hang up his boots before his daughter turns 11.
“But I’ll say, it probably will happen sooner than later. And I’m not giving you any type of spoiler: time goes by. Time goes by like this [quickly]. When my daughter is 11 years old, I’m not going to be falling down for a living anymore. And I think one of the things that I really enjoyed about how John did it is the finality he brought to it. ‘I have given you everything. This is all I have, anything else wouldn’t be right.’ And when John says he will never wrestle again, he really means it. So that finality was beautiful.”
“I Hope I’m Not Afraid To Take A Risk” – Cody Rhodes On How He Hopes To Retire
Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes’ first daughter, Liberty, was born in 2021, meaning Rhodes is looking at retiring before 2032. He went on to say that he hopes to follow in the footsteps of Cena, AJ Styles, and Brock Lesnar by taking risks in his final months and competing against stars who aren’t necessarily a “sure bet” for the future of the company.
“The other thing that he did, that AJ did, that Brock did, that continues to be done is… I hope that I’m not afraid to take a risk, to take a gamble. ‘Hey, he’s doing alright, let’s do that one, and let’s do that one.’
“The model he set was not only sure bets, which there never is, or guarantees, there never really is, but guys you could be pretty confident could take the torch, could carry the flame, but also a few in there that, ‘Let’s see.’
“That’s one of the most beautiful things about pro-wrestling and sports entertainment, no matter where you are, is when you see somebody out there in their ‘let’s see’ moment. Can they go? Can they be the next face, the next person to lead us and bring us together as wrestling is supposed to do.
John Cena and AJ Styles both ended their careers in matches against Gunther, while Brock Lesnar retired after losing to Oba Femi inside Hell in a Cell at SummerSlam 2026.
