Cody Rhodes is “all in” with WWE, as “The American Nightmare” has signed a multi-year contract with WWE. He made his return at WrestleMania 38 Night One, where he defeated Seth Rollins, and he’ll be a full-time part of the roster moving forward.
During an appearance on The Ringer Wrestling Show, Rhodes explained how he is committed to WWE and called his contract “maybe the most complex document or contract” in wrestling history. He then stated that he’ll be on the road like everyone else, and he’s looking forward to this new chapter of his career.
“Yeah, a great way to put it is all in,” said Rhodes. “Maybe the most complex document or contract ever drawn up in the history of our game. But [it’s a] full multi-year commitment, not a part-time deal, back to what I used to do. Every day out on the road. These people were wonderful enough to get me a bus so that my family could be with me, and I got everyone, all of them here tonight. So they bet on me, so I’m gonna bet on WWE. I’m really looking forward to it.”
When asked whether he was “protecting” himself during the contract negotiations and potentially guarding against anything like his infamous Stardust character, Rhodes explained that he was focused on dealing with the perception of himself. He also wanted to make sure nobody made fun of AEW on WWE TV.
“I think coming from every perception, Undertaker said it a couple times last night in his speech, perception is reality often in the industry,” said Rhodes. “And the perception of me is all over the place. ‘Oh, he’s an egomaniac, oh, he asked for all this money.’ All this crazy, it’s kind of fun to hear, but in reality, I grew up here. I was 20 years old. I didn’t know what a contract was. I was 19 when I went to OVW.
“Now it’s just a different story. It’s not so much about this has to be this way, this has to be this way. It was just more of, I was the Executive Vice President of AEW, one of the founding fathers, and I wanted to make sure that leaving, it was with the utmost respect and not gonna be, I hope no one’s lazy enough here, which no one is, to make AEW jokes or bingo hall references and any of that.”
The former AEW star went on to emphasize that it was simply time to move on from AEW, as he didn’t want to be a 15-time TNT Champion. (He held the title three times during his run with the promotion.) Rhodes then repeated that his WWE contract is long and complicated.
“Because it’s nothing against them, it was just time for me to move on,” said Rhodes. “I’d wrestled everybody I wanted to wrestle. I didn’t want to be a 15-time TNT Champion and hold the belt hostage. I wanted to move on to maybe a different piece of leather. But yeah I don’t know why it’s that complicated. My agent’s back there just going, ‘Oh my god don’t say anything.’ It’s a complicated document. It’s pretty long.”
Finally, Rhodes praised WWE President Nick Khan and stated that he enjoyed the courtship process leading into his return.
“Nick Khan’s another one, perception is reality, everyone has these opinions on Nick Khan,” said Rhodes. “That guy was the nicest guy I’d ever met in my life. Nicest way, and Bruce [Prichard] to come in and to have the chairman [Vince McMahon] himself, god that courtship felt so good. It really did.”
Rhodes discussed his WWE return in another interview. His comments are available here.
