Cody Rhodes has opened up about his WWE return back in 2022, admitting that there was a strong chance that he made the wrong decision.
After leaving AEW in early 2022, where Rhodes was an EVP on top of also being an active talent, The American Nightmare was revealed to be the surprise opponent for Seth Rollins. From there, Rhodes picked up 3 consecutive wins over Rollins, went on to win the Royal Rumble and headline WrestleMania the following year. Although Rhodes came up short at WrestleMania 39, he was able to finish the story one year later.
From there, Rhodes has held the top title twice, has been presented as one of the company’s biggest babyfaces, and consistently has some of the strongest merch sales at WWE shows. However, according to the SmackDown star, there was a strong chance that it could have all been for nothing.
Speaking with The Undertaker on his Six Feet Under podcast, Rhodes noted that he did have “a good gig” while in AEW, adding that there was a strong chance that his return could have been one massive anticlimax:
“The situation, looking back at it now, so many things were happening,” Rhodes said. “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.
