Cody Rhodes has been making the media rounds since returning to WWE at WrestleMania Saturday.
While speaking with Ariel Helwani in an interview released on Sunday, Rhodes said he wasn’t satisfied being the gatekeeper in AEW. He didn’t want to be the guy that feuds with a new star. Instead, he wanted to wrestle new people and got to do that.
Rhodes also reiterated comments about not wanting to be just a “15-time TNT champ” in AEW. He started to get the sense that he has more to accomplish.
Rhodes mentioned in a previous interview with Variety that there was a personal matter between him and AEW President Tony Khan that they were unable to get past.
“Unfortunately, I can’t comment on the personal matter itself. Tony Khan, who I have genuine respect for and I hope history is really kind to because he bankrolled this entire grassroots movement that was starting in ROH and then All In happened, then, of course, AEW happened and then he was able to buy that footage back. I felt like we were drifting apart.
It just genuinely felt like it was time. I can’t comment on the personal nature of it but it was nothing nefarious or scandalous, just we couldn’t agree. Nothing but respect for him, his family, the infrastructure there.”
Rhodes added that the personal issue between him and Khan was nothing sensational. He’s unsure if he’ll ever share what happened, but it wasn’t anything crazy.
“It just was a rather easy decision. Hard, and hard to explain to the fans, which we didn’t, and hard to explain to the talent because one week I was there and the next week Ricky Starks and QT [Marshall] are bringing in bags and getting all my stuff out of the box and making the biggest scene they possibly could instead of being discreet as I asked them to. I had a wonderful experience there and I feel the experience had maxed out. You never want to start getting into a situation where the love goes away.”
H/T to F4Wonline.com for the transcription
