Cody Rhodes thinks his return to is ‘best for the whole business’.
The 36-year-old superstar on Saturday as he beat Seth Rollins in his return bout six years after leaving Vince McMahon’s company, leading to a spell which brought All Elite Wrestling (AEW) into existence.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk how he didn’t want to become a ‘gatekeeper’ wrestler after ‘locking’ himself out of AEW’s world championship picture.
Reflecting on the next chapter of his career, he said: ‘I didn’t wanna upset fans about that – and they still got p***ed! Sorry! I locked myself out of the main title picture.
‘I told myself I didn’t wanna be a gatekeeper wrestler. I didn’t wanna be, “Oh, new debut, Cody programme”. I didn’t wanna be that. So around that time, I started thinking, “Would it be different?”
‘It would probably be what’s best for the whole business, to do this. And maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. I think it’s best for everyone to do this, and free up some real estate.’
The American Nightmare admitted he first started feelingto the Royal Rumble.
‘What happens around the Rumble, this is gonna sound super marky and that’s fine. I have really good Rumble stats,’ he laughed. ‘I’m one of the only two in that top 10 to not win it.
‘I remember thinking, that’s gonna go away! [Dolph] Ziggler’s still at this, these guys are getting time. It would be really good to go back in a vindicated type way, to be me and try to be the absolute best wrestlers in the world and prove it here.’
Before that point, Cody didn’t think he’d get ‘another shot’ in WWE, given his huge responsibilities in AEW as an executive vice president and leader of the company’s community outreach programme, as well as a wealth of other projects.
‘I didn’t think I’d get another shot at it, in terms of – I was really proud of the run I had in WWE, and in AEW I was executive vice president, head of the community outreach department,’ he explained.
‘I call them kids, some of them would be older than me, but I had people in my direct purview. So I didn’t have time to think about it. We had a show, we had a business to run.’
While things are always moving fast – even now, he has a vintage spirits and bourbons project in the pipeline – there was also , which gave another layer to things.
He added: ‘Everything was moving so fast. As soon as my baby was born, literally the second thing I thought after she was born – other than “She’s so beautiful” – is that I have to make a lot of money. What do I do? I was busy, busy, busy, busy, busy.’
That’s not to say this comeback is rooted in financial goals, as Cody admitted he doesn’t want to work as an executive again, noting it’s the pure root of the wrestling dream that he is reconnecting with.
‘As much as I loved where I was, and I love my job, it’s no one’s dream to be an executive. It’s pretty cool for a minute,’ he said. ‘And then you get blamed for everything.
‘That’s part of it – that’s not your dream. Everyone who wants to be a wrestler, the dream is putting the belt on in their underwear. That’s the dream.’
WWE WrestleMania 38 continues on Sunday night at 1am on the WWE Network.
