Cody Rhodes Reveals When He Knew He Was Leaving AEW

WWE

Cody Rhodes appears to be having a great time since his return to WWE, and looks to be heading for great things in the company he initially left in 2016. Apparently he did some stuff while he was gone, but we don’t need to go into that again.

Speaking to Busted Open Radio, Rhodes was asked if he remembered the exact moment he knew he would be leaving AEW and likely joining WWE. He replied:

“[The moment] I knew that it was going to and needed to happen for me was the Loews Hotel over by Rosemont, which is by Allstate Arena. Allstate, where WWE regularly runs for Chicago. But I looked at Brandi and I told her. And the last time I told her something like that was when I told her I was leaving WWE. I just – I kind of had done it all in my mind. I was just sitting there at that little bar to the right side in a little corner booth, and I knew.”

He went on to shower praise and thanks onto Vince McMahon and other WWE executives, who he says have welcomed him very warmly back into the company.

“I really can’t thank Nick Khan, Bruce Prichard, and Vince McMahon enough for the efforts to recruit me. And just absolute warmth that they showed me.”

Cody was also keen to silence any rumours of special clauses within his new WWE contract that give him any preferential treatment.

“I think a lot of people think that there were some particular elements placed in the contract. Not to get tacky, but there wasn’t. It was a handshake. But in this situation, my confidence isn’t in anybody anywhere other than me. That’s no disrespect to anybody. My confidence is in me.

“I feel like for almost three years, I have been the best wrestler in the world and I define wrestler differently. I know some people – there’s work rate, there are promos, there’s hardcore – I know it’s all over the place, and everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.

“And I don’t mean to be braggadocious in this sense, but I mean it because I’ve worked to be the best and in my mind, the best is capturing the imagination of the audience the longest and getting them the loudest whether they’re booing, whether they’re cheering, whatever it may be. But, with that in mind, it’s very for me to say, ‘hey, I’m the best wrestler in the world’, if I’m not wearing the big one. It’s very hard.”

Cody will be facing Seth Rollins at WrestleMania Backlash on May 8, in a rematch from WrestleMania 38.

Cody Rhodes is the first person to have been signed to AEW and then jumped ship to WWE, but there have been many who have gone the other way. Check out our list of all WWE releases in 2022 right here.

Credit to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.

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• Vince McMahon
• Cody Rhodes
• AEW
• wwe

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