Cody Rhodes knew he was rolling the dice when he made his WWE return in 2022.
Even now, looking back on it still makes him uneasy.
Rhodes’ decision ultimately paid off in a massive way, as he has remained one of WWE’s top stars since returning. Still, revisiting that moment reminds him just how big of a gamble it really was.
Speaking on a new episode of Undertaker’s Six Feet Under podcast, Rhodes admitted that coming back to WWE may have been an even bigger risk than when he initially left the company in 2016.
At the time, Rhodes felt secure elsewhere, noting that he had what he described as “a good gig” in AEW, with no guarantee that a WWE return would succeed.
“The situation, looking back at it now, so many things were happening,” Rhodes said. “I had two television shows that were on Discovery now, but Warner Media programming. I had to juggle that, I had to really weigh it out. Obviously, opportunity is amazing, but I had to really weigh it out. Is this a mistake, right? They didn’t see it the first time. They saw a little of it, but they didn’t see it.”
Rhodes explained that the fear surrounding the decision lingered heavily as he considered the move.
“Is this the biggest mistake ever? You think the first time leaving is the biggest mistake ever. Coming back, my fear was like, this could be the biggest gamble of all. I had a good gig. I had, contrary to what you hear, and you guys know how the internet likes to internet, but I had a good gig. I had an executive job. I loved the Bullet Club guys. But evolving and moving myself forward, it was just a lot to weigh out.”
One key point Rhodes emphasized was that the risk fell entirely on him.
Not WWE.
“And again, it could have been a big — had I gone out there and belly flopped in the pool, like, it wouldn’t have hurt WWE at all,” he said. “It would have been, ‘See, he wasn’t. He was Little League all along.’ You know? Now I’m getting anxiety over it now, and it’s over. We already did it, you know? We’re good, we’re good.”
Rhodes also credited WWE’s presentation of his return as a major factor in cementing him as a top-level star right away.
“I was presented as if I never existed there before, in a way,” he said. “Like, I was presented as this fully polished, ready, if you didn’t know, and you were a young kid watching, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool. Like, you jumped right in. And if you did, you were rewarded for knowing the journey.”
Cody Rhodes returns to the ring this weekend as part of the annual Royal Rumble match. Make sure to join us here at WrestlingHeadlines.com for live results coverage of the show.
(H/T to F4WOnline.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
