Cody Rhodes shares some details about his meeting with Vince McMahon prior to making his WWE return at WrestleMania 38.
The American Nightmare spoke about this encounter during a recent interview on Insight With Chris Van Vilet. Cody recalls the meeting feeling very casual and conversational, and that Vince had cited and praised him for things he had accomplished outside of WWE.
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.
Cody later states that the meeting didn’t feel like one until the last 30 seconds, where Vince pitched him what he would be doing at WrestleMania 38, which was wrestle Seth Rollins.
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.
Elsewhere in the interview, Cody spoke about finally deciding to use his father, Dusty Rhodes, as a part of his story chasing the world championship. You can read about that here, or check out his full interview below.
(Special thanks to Chris Van Vilet for sending us quotes)
