Cody Rhodes appeared for the Mattel & WWE Elite Squad Fan Panel at the San Diego Comic Con earlier today, and gave an injury update to fans.
Rhodes was on the panel with Ciampa, Queen Zelina Vega, and Sam Roberts, along with Mattel Design team members Steve Ozer and Bill Miekina. WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker made a special appearance on the panel, which ran for one hour at the San Diego Convention Center.
The panel was held to focus on Mattel’s 2023 WWE line-up but Rhodes warned everyone and asked them to forgive his tendency to “overshare” things. Rhodes discussed his recent injury and said he is OK, and reiterated comments he made on Wednesday night at The ESPYS about how his doctor his doctors are worried he will try to return early.
Rhodes said he’s been getting constant updates from his doctor throughout the rehab process.
“I’m… OK,” Cody said slowly. He added, “[My doctor] said he’s not going to give me a timeline because he’s afraid I’m going to jump it.”
“So I’m going to try to jump it,” he told the audience with a sly grin.
Rhodes then revealed that he is still very far away from recovering fully.
“I couldn’t win an arm wrestling contest right now,” he said.
Rhodes later asked the crowd when they’d like to see him return.
One fan in the back of the room shouted, “Royal Rumble!”
“You never know. We’ll see,” Rhodes said with a sly smile, in between noticeably grimacing while stretching out his right shoulder, which he did multiple times during the panel.
The comments about his doctor and the timeline for a return are similar to what he said on Wednesday night after winning the ESPY Award for WWE Moment of the Year. You can click here for that report, which includes photos and video.
Rhodes has been out of action since mid-June after suffering a complete tear of his right pectoral muscle on the Friday before the recent WWE Hell In a Cell event. Despite the injury and the gruesome looking bruise on his upper-body, Rhodes still worked the Hell In a Cell match with Seth Rollins, and picked up the win. Rhodes had surgery later that week in Birmingham, Alabama, and has been recovering since. WWE announced that Rhodes would be on the shelf for 9 months, but people within WWE and close to Rhodes reportedly expect him to be back before then. It was reported that Rhodes also expects to be back in action before the 9 month mark, which could make for a big Royal Rumble return in January. It’s still early for creative plans to be booked for Rhodes’ return, but it was recently reported that there was talk of making Rhodes’ return a huge deal for the company, and to build him up like they did with WWE Hall of Famer Triple H in 2001/2002.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more. You can see Rhodes and Vega hyping everyone up for Rhodes’ panel entrance below:
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(H/T to USA Insider’s Chris Phelan)