With SummerSlam rapidly approaching, WWE sent former WWE Champion Cody Rhodes to The Ringer to talk shop with the Podfather himself, Bill Simmons, on his namesake podcast.

Stopping by the show to talk about his feud with John Cena, his WWE Championship run, and everything else that could come up before the event this weekend in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Rhodes also decided to drop a little more info on his exit from AEW, revealing the double standard he felt between his times in the top-2 wrestling federations in North America.

“There’s clearly bad blood, but there’s also clearly respect and love. In the end, the way I see it is, if I felt disrespected ever at WWE, that’s one thing. That’s a company that was built…that’s the Yankees. That’s the flagship of it all. If I ever felt (at WWE) that I was a number on a sheet, maybe, but feeling disrespected at something I built with my friends. That we built. Feeling disrespected there, I wouldn’t stand for it,” Rhodes said via Fightful.

“Brandi and I both, I’m so blessed to have her. It was one of those where it was, f**k it. ‘I did way more here than you think, and you’re going to find out the moment I’m out the door.’ I don’t believe in the cold-hearted back-stabbing type of revenge. The greatest revenge on Earth is success. I felt like we were sitting on something wonderful. Something great. A huge, potentially, what I was doing with the American Nightmare, as a bad guy, as a good guy, something in between. We’re sitting on some magic. If I’m not going to do it in the house that I literally, with Matt, Nick, and Kenny built, then buddy, I’m going elsewhere.”

Now granted, while fans did know that Rhodes had a falling out with the company, this is just another layer off of one of the biggest mysteries in professional wrestling; one that will, hopefully, eventually, be resolved at some point in the future. With that being said, it also isn't lost that, during a PLE weekend, someone took a chance to shoot on WWE's biggest rival, as, regardless of which promotion is running a big show, The Fed has frequently found excuses to control the narrative and elevate their own at the expense of their rivals.

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