WWE

A top WWE star has recalled what Vince McMahon told him upon his return to the company.

At WWE WrestleMania 38, Cody Rhodes made his return after six years away to defeat Seth Rollins. Since then, Rhodes has been positioned as a top star for the promotion on the Monday Night Raw brand.

Upon his departure from WWE in 2016, the creative differences between “The American Nightmare” and Vince McMahon concerning the Stardust character are well documented.

Speaking on the latest edition of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Cody Rhodes recalled what Mr. McMahon told him upon his return to the company. He said:

“That’s a good question, I think he laughed. He has that like, [impersonates Vince laugh] I think he laughed. Because I kind of snuck in. But I like leaned over him, and I think he kind of laughed.”

“I remember going in to talk to him. I wasn’t afraid of anything, and I was overcompensating almost.”

“I was very adamant of like, I’m not, I’ve used the Bernie Mac reference a bunch, but he walks out and the crowds kind of booing him, he tells me he’s not scared of them. That’s really where I was at. It’s like, we’re good.”

“Not scared of anything here, let’s talk. And I was almost overcompensating because both Vince and Bruce were so welcoming. So, this is the term I can use, sweet, and so positive about what I had done.”

“And the fact that they knew what I had done and actually were citing different things, like I saw this, I saw this, I couldn’t believe it. It was very self-affirming.”

Rhodes continued on to explain what he and Vince were able to talk about after the initial laughter, saying:

“And it just went like that type of happy go lucky. We’re talking about, I had, you know, Liberty was a year old or maybe not even at that time.”

“And he’s talking to me about what it’s like to be a you know, a dad for a daughter and how special it is, it was just beautiful. And then like in the last 20 seconds of the meeting it was, Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, you know, that’s where the only business came up.”

“And it was, I told Brandi I would say this, but I was adamant about saying please don’t do one of those hey, this is the deal, if you leave it’s off the table, don’t do one of those. I have to leave and think about it. I have to.”

“And even in your mind, you’re like yep, I think we’re gonna do that. Even your mind, I have to leave to think about it and take some time because man, we had made such massive decisions.”

“And I’m kind of a career left turn guy with, no way would he do this, well he did that. So, this one was going to be something similar but really special. Didn’t feel like a meeting until maybe the last 30 seconds.”

Cody Rhodes also revealed what has changed the most in WWE since his return to the promotion, which you can read here.

Rhodes will have another high profile match when he faces Brock Lesnar at WWE SummerSlam on August 5. For the full lineup for the event, click here.

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• Vince McMahon
• Cody Rhodes
• Return
• wwe

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