Cody Rhodes received a hero's welcome upon his 2022 WWE return. He was presented as a big star coming from AEW, and went on to defeat the likes of Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, and Roman Reigns to become the new face of WWE. Before all this, however, the wrestling veteran had to make the decision to leave the company he co-founded to return to one where he started his career, and the call was not an easy one.
The former Undisputed Champion opened up about the reservations he had about this huge career move during his appearance on Six Feet Under. Cody Rhodes mentioned that he had a lot of things going on in AEW. He was unsure if WWE would see him as a main eventer despite all his success outside the company, and he felt the whole thing was the biggest gamble of his life:
"The situation, looking back at it now, so many things were happening. I had two television shows on Warner Media. I had to juggle that. I had to really weigh it out. Obviously, opportunity is amazing, but I had to weigh it out. ‘Is this a mistake? They didn’t see it the first time. They saw a little, but they didn’t see it.’ You think the first time leaving was the biggest mistake ever. Coming back, my fear was, ‘this could be the biggest gamble of all.’"
I Had A Good Gig: Cody Rhodes
The 40-year-old discussed how being reintroduced as The American Nightmare instead of his past personas in WWE meant that people who did not know his journey could also get behind him. Cody Rhodes later addressed reports of being unhappy in AEW before his departure from the promotion as well, saying that he had a good gig there:
"I had a good gig. Contrary to what you hear, I had a good gig. I had an executive job. I loved the Bullet Club guys. Evolving and moving myself forward, it was a lot to weigh out. had I gone and belly flopped in the pool, it wouldn’t have hurt WWE at all. It would have been, ‘See, he wasn’t. He was little league all along,'”
The former AEW star is set to enter the Royal Rumble match along with names such as Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns this Saturday. You can check out the full list of confirmed entrants here.