"...I no longer feel like the 'ugly duckling' of the family!"
Cody Rhodes gave his first interview since his debut at Wrestlemania 38, in which he shared the details of his return.
Cody Rhodes's appearance in the ring
Rhodes confirmed that his AEW in-ring look has been fully endorsed by WWE:
"I remember saying, 'I have to be myself. It's supposed to be Kingdom [theme song], it's supposed to be American Nightmare, all of that." It was really cool to hear Vince say, "Well, since this look works, we're buying it!".
Why is Cody Rhodes returning to WWE?
Rhodes emphasized that he returned to WWE to complete his family's unfinished business.
"It's very clear why I came back!" Rhodes said. And I want to be the one to finish these things. In general, I hate it when people say that Dusty (his father Dusty Rhodes) should be proud of you. I know they want good, but there is none! I feel a huge responsibility to carry that name, and that moment at Wrestlemania, it was like, "You know what? I can do it! I'm not going to be the ugly duckling of the family anymore! I can wear Rhodes's name, I can wear it." in Texas for the biggest show of the year with Charlotte, Steve Austin, The Undertaker and I felt good!"
Cody Rhodes's future plans
When Rhodes was asked about his future plans in WWE, he promised to talk about them on the upcoming edition of Raw. As you know, Cody Rhodes signed a multi-year contract with WWE.
“One of the most important things for me was that both Bruce Pritchard and Vince McMahon flew to the meeting (the contract offer in February). If this conversation did not lead to anything, then I would just be satisfied with the conversation about wrestling and sports entertainment - it would be a great thing after so many years and considering how badly I left here, and then also said many different ambiguous things. But Vince told me, "What's done is done."
I remember saying, "I have to be myself. It has to be Kingdom [theme song], it has to be an American Nightmare, my complete image." And Vince said, "Yeah, that sounds good, we're buying it."
The amazing thing is that you spend all your time trying to prove the people who doubted you wrong, to prove the people who supported you right, but at that moment it was just closing the first step and worrying about what will happen next. I'm going to talk more about it on the upcoming RAW."