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Despite asking for his release, founding the first legitimate challenger brand in nearly 20 years, and even having an exorcism to rid himself of the demons of his past, at his heart, Cody Rhodes has always been a WWE guy.
A second-generation wrestler who has a father in the Hall of Fame and a brother who will likely follow suit before the decade comes to an end, Rhodes never felt right wrestling for anyone but a member of the McMahon family, and as he's proven in his return to the promotion, fans of Sports Entertainment love him too.
Discussing his return to the WWE Universe and the trust the promotion has shown him on After The Bell with Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick, Rhodes complimented the promotion for trusting him to take the ball and run with it; giving him the keys to the kingdom after building his own castle across the street.
“The things I appreciate in WWE is, it's almost like we're tailor-made for each other in that I'm a bit of a control freak. I want to really have a say in what my merch [merchandise] will look like. I also want to see how well that's doing in every single market, not just the general conversation once a week, not unlike I watched Cena [John Cena] do. Not just that, but everything with the presentation, all of these things that I felt like I had to do myself, there is a department at WWE that wanted to do it and knew how to do it better than me. That appreciation, I didn't have as a kid. I'll be honest, when I was here the first time, went like two years before I introduced myself to Marty the cameraman, two years before I knew Stu on the floor by name. I was immature and flying at a million miles an hour and not knowing what's what and how important everybody is,” Cody Rhodes said via Fightful.
“At the end of the night, I stay a little longer, perhaps more than production wants, but at WWE, that's a big thing I appreciate, how accommodating they are in terms of ‘the big machine.' It is an unbelievably well-oiled machine. There's Vince [Vince McMahon], Hunter [Triple H], and plenty of top brass, but I'll tell you a guy who I feel gave me the keys to the kingdom was Nick Khan. I feel he really gave me the keys to the kingdom when I signed and ever since then, every department, everybody, I have such an appreciation for that. They aren't nine to fivers. They live it and breathe it. I kind of don't love the nine to fivers who say, ‘it's done for the day' and put it away. This is a passion industry, a passion job. Nine to five doesn't work for me. I'm texting people at 11. Poor [VP of Creative Writing] Ryan Ward, getting texts from me, he's probably on vacation. I have such an appreciation for the machine, how accommodating the machine has been for me.”
On paper, is it weird to see WWE lean in and push Rhodes as hard as they are considering his time away from the promotion? Yes, in a way, it is, but in the end, the team-up has done gangbusters, and it's nice to see that Rhodes feels vindicated in his decision to bet on himself.
Cody Rhodes reveals the one place he misses from his time in AEW.
Elsewhere in his conversation with Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves, Cody Rhodes discussed what he missed from his time in AEW and delivered a response that will turn more than a few heads around professional wrestling: his office.
“If I missed anything from my time away, and that was such a fun time, the only thing I miss is, I had an office in every building,” Cody Rhodes said via Fightful. “In that office was some of the most fun, no business was being done, maybe 5% business and Brandi [Brandi Rhodes] was the one doing business, the other 95% of it was me and my buddies, new people coming in, hiding people in there, every week we had the Nightmare Bar. Fully stocked. Once guys and girls were done working, I miss that office. Dogs were in there, Little Brodie [Brodie Lee Jr] was in there all the time. I really miss the office. What happens is, some of the guys go to the buildings and they'll take a picture of where my room was and send it to me. It's really sad.”
Welp, there you go, WWE; if you want Rhodes to drop another WrestleMania main event to Roman Reigns next April, giving him an office might help to soften the blow.
