Here’s When Cody Rhodes Was Cleared For WWE Return

WWE

Cody Rhodes has revealed when he was fully cleared for a return to the ring, following his Royal Rumble victory.

The American Nightmare won the 2023 Royal Rumble match, last eliminating GUNTHER to punch his ticket for WrestleMania 39.

This was Rhodes’ first match since he underwent surgery for his torn pectoral muscle in June 2022.

Following heavy speculation that Rhodes would be in the Rumble, WWE officially announced that the former AEW EVP would be in the bout on the January 16 edition of Raw.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Rhodes stated that he was only fully cleared on the day of the event.

Discussing his recovery, Rhodes said:

“I went to the Performance Center, I remember I made a joke in AEW about hip toss class, I did a hip toss class.

“Thank God for it, actually, because I worked with…I won’t say one guy’s name because I don’t want to blow his spot up, but I worked with Carmelo Hayes. Joe Gacy was the other guy, I don’t know why I’m not crediting him.

“They were rough with me, they were rugged. It let me feel what I need to feel to know where to get. I can’t wait for their opportunities to come because they are incredible wrestlers and incredible stars.

“That experience, I got partially cleared through that. I was able to do what I want, my wind was good, I was training heavily with PT [physical therapy] and an off-site team that my wife got for me.

“I didn’t really get fully cleared until today. Looked good, and everything was great, but they still had to get in there, grab it, feel on it.

“That’s a wild situation, when you’ve been announced for the Royal Rumble, you’ve seen your shirts and seen the young fans.

“I think it was more of a formality than anything, but it still had me kind of shaking. WWE has been very good to me medically, very good.

“I’ll be in PT for the rest of my life, though. I’ve been there every week and now I have to just do preventive stuff. It changed everything about how I’ve trained.”

Rhodes recently commented on his Royal Rumble win, which you can read about right here.

Transcription via Fightful. 

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• Injury
• Cody Rhodes
• Royal Rumble
• wwe

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