Cody Rhodes secured the bag when he returned to WWE.
In February 2022, Cody Rhodes left AEW after he helped found the company and build it in its early years. He returned to WWE at WWE WrestleMania 38. Since then, he has become WWE’s top star, and he won the Undisputed WWE Championship at WWE WrestleMania 40.
Speaking on FLAGRANT, Cody Rhodes recalled how Vince McMahon came to his house and spoke to him about potentially coming back to WWE.
“[Vince] came to my house in Atlanta,” Rhodes said. “It was really old-school in terms of, ‘Hey, there’s no promises beyond this is what we are considering. You wrestling Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas.’ Seth Rollins was somebody I felt like I’d been chasing when I was there the first time. Really old-school, scribbled on a piece of paper the amount of money the contract would be for, and just slid it across, which was unnecessary.
I can’t tell you exactly how much it was, I can tell you it’s 15 times more than what I had been making in WWE the first run. It was a different layer…even with everything I had done. It was hilarious, it was slid across to me.”
Cody Rhodes: I Have To Be Me
Rhodes continued by noting that it wasn’t a “money thing”, as he wanted to make sure that he still had his “American Nightmare” name, logo, and music. He said McMahon told him that Rhodes’ presentation was not broken, and they were buying it.
“I looked at that, and I actually didn’t, again, not the smartest, it wasn’t really a money thing. It was, I thought, this is huge. I own all this stuff, the logo, my music, my look. Most of the time, you get caught in the aspect of ‘that’s ours,’ these creations of yours. So many little things I created don’t belong to me. However, this was created outside, so I can bring this actual whole thing. So that was my concern, ‘The American Nightmare,’ the music is a big part of it, every aspect of that I do, the fact that I’m not gonna say title, I’ll say belt. I have to be me.
“One of the quotes that was given to me in that meeting was, ‘It’s not broke. That’s why we’re buying it.’ I thought, okay, then we’re on the same page. I wanted them to know I’ve done a few things here, I’ve got a good command of what I can do and what I can not do, and I played my cards that way, I suppose, and the next thing you know, there’s like this three-month period where now I’m off, shockingly have left this baby of mine, this thing that I really loved, to go back and go after the first dream I had in the business.”
RELATED: Cody Rhodes Believes Dustin Rhodes Is Worthy Of The WWE Hall Of Fame
If you use these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to WrestleZone with an h/t for the transcription.
