Cody Rhodes wants to end his career at the right time.
The American Nightmare was recently a guest on the All The Smoke podcast. Among other things, the face of WWE talked about the difficulty of having a good balance between his work and personal life while constantly being on the road.
The 40-year-old has two young daughters named Liberty and Leilani, with the latter being only a few weeks old. The Undisputed Champion explained that he tries to spend as much time with them as possible, taking inspiration from his own father, Dusty Rhodes. The former AEW star mentioned how the Late Legend had reduced his involvement in the business a lot when Cody was born, and so he was able to be around a lot more:
“You get to a point where there is only so much, you can only go so long. I think I know my number where I’d like to get with this. I was lucky that my dad, who I thought was the best dad ever, he was out of the game – he was in it as producer and in it as a creator,
[He’d] pop in here as kind of an old man wrestler every now and then, but he was out of the game so he was number one dad. At every game, he coached our football team. He’s known in Cobb County as Coach more than the American Dream. That’s what he was.”
Will Probably Be My Last: Cody Rhodes
The current champion discussed how taking care of your family has been made easier with the reduced WWE schedule, and a lot of people have adapted to traveling in private buses so they can bring their families along. Cody Rhodes noted that he tries to be at the breakfast table the next day, even when he does travel for SmackDown tapings without his family.
All this, however, still comes at a cost in an industry that has no off-season. This is why Rhodes does not plan to wrestle till the wheels fall off, and Cody believes that his next contract with WWE will probably be his last:
“I’d like to make it, by the time they hit that age, that I’m not gone that often. Or I can’t really walk around that much. And that’s…we’re getting closer. What I’d say is probably my last contract with WWE, or the next contract I sign, [will] probably be my last, and finish my days with WWE.”
The wrestling veteran likely signed a long-term deal when he returned to WWE in 2022, so his next contract and subsequent retirement are still some ways off. Though his commitment to his family does show how things have changed in the wrestling business over the last few decades, and for the good.