Cody Rhodes

The months of rumors were true. Seth Rollins' mystery opponent at Wrestemania 38 was revealed as Cody Rhodes, who came out to a roaring ovation in front of ...

This is the culmination of months of speculation that the second-generation superstar would be making his return to the WWE, where he worked from 2007-2016. Murmurs of friction between him and AEW President Tony Khan started to surface late last year and in February, Rhodes let his contract expire and departed from the company. Word immediately started to spread that he’d be WWE bound and would be working a Wrestlemania match with Seth Rollins. And now, we’re here.

Rhodes was a three-time TNT champion for AEW. The son of late pro wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes, Rhodes started his in-ring career with WWE in 2006. He was with ...

“I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that. The son of late pro wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes, Rhodes started his in-ring career with WWE in 2006. He was with the company for 10 years until requesting his release in 2016. I get an opportunity at my dream, I get another chance at it. AEW, which is owned by Tony Khan, is WWE’s most significant competition since WCW went out of business in 2001. It led to the announcement that Rollins would be facing an opponent of WWE chairman Vince McMahon’s choosing.

Cody Rhodes returned to WWE as the mystery opponent for Seth Rollins. Rhodes came out to Downstait's “Kingdom” to a massive response.

His contract expired at end of 2021 and last wrestled for the promotion in February when he lost the TNT title to Sammy Guevara. I have nothing but respect for Matt [Jackson], Nick [Jackson] and Kenny [Omega]. I’m rooting for Tony Khan. His name is going to be in the history books as someone who helped to bankroll and support this entire alternative and revolution that AEW became but for me, it was just time to to move on. I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that.

In that time, Rhodes has wrestled all over the world and was integral to the founding of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the rival wrestling promotion run by Tony ...

But the No. 1 thing I am able to carry with me is that connection to the audience. It kind of feels like being in the military and having conquered something or having won this battle and being able to stand and keep your chin parallel with the floor and to be able to come in that fashion, a bit of a conquering hero. Then we were able to do what we were able to do with AEW and that’s something that I’m very proud of, but to be able to revisit the thing that I set out to do in the first place when I didn’t think I would get that chance is just heavy. To quote some of these individuals who courted me for this moment, “It’s not broke.” And this was a place that didn’t care for me. I think the elusive thing for any wrestler to find is the connection with the audience. I have nothing but respect for Matt [Jackson], Nick [Jackson] and Kenny [Omega]. I’m rooting for Tony Khan. His name is going to be in the history books as someone who helped to bankroll and support this entire alternative and revolution that AEW became but for me, it was just time to to move on. When I first got into wrestling, I was solely in the WWE system, and I had that dream of getting to the top. I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that. I don’t want to put any hyperbole there, but it’s the biggest crowd in wrestling. “He went to Madison Square Garden, stood across from Superstar Billy Graham and he held it in his hands, the goal of mine, and it was taken away because that was the context of the match,” Rhodes said. It just seems like kind of a culmination of my whole career, but I don’t want to jinx it. He also revealed that there is a Dusty Rhodes documentary in the works as part of WWE’s partnership with A&E under the “Biography: WWE Legends” banner.

As Cody Rhodes was returning to WWE at WrestleMania 38 Saturday night, Variety was publishing a new interview with him.

“It was a personal matter and we couldn’t move past it,” Rhodes continued. And it wasn’t that they didn’t have love and respect for me but as a wrestler, I wasn’t considered their most desirable. Rhodes told Variety there’s a “really heavy feeling” as he prepared to make his return to the company he left six years ago. Cody Rhodes and his wife Brandi parted ways with AEW earlier this year. But with that said, the opportunity now exists to prove it, and that’s what I’m most excited about. As Cody Rhodes was returning to WWE at WrestleMania 38 Saturday night, Variety was publishing a new interview with him.

Rhodes ended his six-year absence from WWE on Saturday at WrestleMania 38, defeating Seth Rollins in what became the worst-kept secret in wrestling. The ...

The reality of the situation: Rhodes wants to be WWE champion, the lone feat his father never accomplished in a wrestling ring. But in that moment, it was just closure on the first loop and excitement for what’s next. “One of the most special parts of it was Bruce [Prichard] and the chairman himself, Vince, flew down to meet me," Rhodes said (around the five-minute mark). “If that meeting had not led to anything, had it just been a conversation about wrestling or sports entertainment ... it would been great closure on the last loop, because I left here on the worst of terms. Rhodes ended his six-year absence from WWE on Saturday at WrestleMania 38, defeating Seth Rollins in what became the worst-kept secret in wrestling. "I remember saying, ‘I have to be me. As Rhodes told The Ringer Wrestling Show, however, his desire to finish what he started won him over in his return to WWE. Rhodes said Vince McMahon also gave him the vindication he was seeking in negotiations.

Cody Rhodes has revealed that his multi-year WWE contract is "the most complex contract ever drawn out in the history of our game."

I didn’t know what a contract was, I think I was 19 when I was in OVW. Now it’s a different story; it’s no longer, ‘this has to be a certain way.’ And the perception of is all over the place. I got everyone here with me tonight [for WrestleMania Saturday]. They bet on me, so I’m going to bet on WWE. I’m really looking forward to it.”

As most internet -savvy fans expected, Cody Rhodes was indeed the mystery opponent for Seth Rollins on Saturday night at WWE WrestleMania 38...

But Rhodes' journey from here is something even fans with a rudimentary understanding of his history should want to see unfold. There was Rhodes looking every bit the part of a big-leaguer, even shrugging off a Pedigree. He was the guy who left for the indies, Rollins was the former indie guy who became the face of the company. Where things go from here is hard to project, especially with the men's main event scene getting unified titles of some sort in the near future. If he wants to be a babyface, he'll lean into that and the usual trappings of that style of character. If he wants to be a heel, it'd be all too easy to lean into the character who has returned to save a company, etc. But there's a snowball-down-mountain bit of momentum for WWE to lean on right now, even if fans have every right to raise an eyebrow and express some skepticism that this will continue.