Cody Rhodes Reflects On His Time In AEW, Leaving & Why He Doesn’t Look At It With Negativity

Cody Rhodes talked in depth on the Bill Simmons podcast about his time in AEW, leaving the company and why he doesn’t look at it with negativity despite some bad blood. Rhodes talked on the podcast about his exit and you can see the full highlights (this is the same conversation as shown in edited form in the teaser for the podcast appearance) below:

On leaving WWE and helping start AEW: “For me, I was very almost volatile in how I came at it. I had love and reverence for WWE, this is the house that built me. But man, I really wanted I woke up every day thinking, ‘I want them to know what I could have done. I want them to know what I could have done.’ Which is why it’s fun to talk about now, because they came back and got me. Which wasn’t on my — that was never part of the master plan.

“Sometimes people look at me and be like, ‘Oh, he always was going back’… I kept making it appear that I had a plan. But really, I wanted to make as much noise and disrupt as much as I could. And I can’t ever think of anything — because I was talking about the two things and momentum and all that in the beginning. I found some of the best people around me who were feeling the underground elements of that and. And really, like the three that I’d always cite — and I’d feel uncomfortable if I didn’t — Matt and Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega. That group — and Kevin Owens, God bless him, he’s responsible for it because he linked us all together. And that connection of my name and my equity, and their skills, and their moxy, and the drive, and just that anger that I had. And what they had. All of that just set up a situation that couldn’t fail.”

On Triple H’s indirect part in the matter: “And also at the time — Triple H doesn’t realize he’s a big part of this. Because at NXT, he’s bringing in every good hot gun off the independents. So it’s not about legacies, it’s not about tenure at WWE anymore. It’s about who has the hot hand. So, it was a matter of like, “Well, let’s — I’m going to be the hot hand, and I don’t know if I’m going to come back with it. What are we going to do?’ And you know, we’re off to the races with it at that point. But that that was a really huge part of all the skills I had combined with really great people around me. Really great timing. Great timing.”

On if he felt like he would be in AEW forever: “It’s hard to put myself in that spot again, but I — I started to get a sense. You know, Michael Hayes is famous for, ‘Always leave the territory at your hottest.’ I started to get a sense that all wrestling needs change. Guys are going to go from company to company. You gotta keep it fresh… I just got the sense that it might be time for me to move into something else. And I didn’t know what that was. And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, that’d be crazy to be part of the Royal Rumble, to come home.’ Because I’ve made another home. I got kids at this home, basically. But to show everybody. Because the first meeting I had with Vince and Bruce Prichard, I didn’t think I was coming back. I was excited to go to that meeting to say — and this is gonna sound crazy. I wanted to tell them both, ‘Thank you.’

“I left on crazy bad terms. No one could leave how I left because of how I left. They didn’t even sign my release papers… I left in a terrible place. They let it happen, because of — probably more respect for my dad more than anything. And then I went out and fought so hard and filled with rage. I’m smashing the throne. I’m bleeding. I’m setting myself on fire. I was just — I don’t know, going through it and living it out for everyone who was watching. But I wanted to tell them both ‘Thanks. You guys helped build me and train me.’ And I took all those skills and I took them everywhere I went. I took them to every company, every independent, I got to reinvent myself on how I wanted to be here in WWE, I got to be that outside. And that’s all I thought it was going to be, a sense of closure. A real sense of, ‘Thank you so much for the lessons I never got to thank you for.’ Then it turned into be something else by the end of that meeting.”

On if left feeling like he couldn’t elevate AEW anymore: “Maybe that’s a little of it. I think — I started thinking about writing a book the other day… I was thinking of, ‘What would I say? How would I put it?’ Because there’s clearly bad blood. But there is also clearly respect and love. And in the end, the way I kind of 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 there, 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. And I think 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.’ And I hate saying that with any sense of anger or rage. But like, I’m like the angriest person you’re ever going to meet. [Laughs] I don’t believe in the cold-hearted backstabb-y type of revenge. The greatest revenge on Earth is success. And I felt like we were sitting on something wonderful, something great. A huge — potentially, with what I was doing with the American Nightmare, as a bad guy, as a good guy, as something in-between? We’re sitting on something magical. And 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. And every day, I’m so blessed that Bruce Prichard, Nick, Triple H, got me, Vince got me back. Because I get to live it out now.”

On not looking at AEW with negativity: “I don’t look at any of it — I said I was angry and enraged, I don’t look at it with any negativity, and here’s why. I got to be part of WWE again. And I got to be part of WWE — we’re talking about Austin and we’re talking about Hogan. Two of the greatest to ever lace their boots and draw people into the arenas, and every one of those records have been broken. And I got to be in the matches that broke those records. I got to stand across from Roman Reigns at [WrestleMania] 39, I got to do it again. I got the quarterback spot at a company where I was last in the combine. I am very grateful. That’s why I have trouble articulating it, and why I want to write this book because I’m very grateful because, ‘Okay, this schism happened. But the outcome is I got to be with the biggest game in town. And not only did I get this spot? I got to show them that I could do it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Bill Simmons Podcast with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.