Cody Rhodes was on Busted Open Radio this week and was asked about the exact moment he knew he was leaving AEW. Rhodes started 2022 without an AEW contract despite being the reigning TNT Champion and an executive vice president for the young promotion. He officially left the company on Feb. 15, then made his return to the WWE at WrestleMania 38 at the start of April.
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“The Loews Hotel in Rosemont by the Allstate Arena. I looked at Brandi and I told her,” Rhodes recalled (h/t Fightful). “The last time I told her something like that is when I told her I was leaving WWE. I had kind of done it all in my mind. I was sitting there at the bar in the corner booth and I knew. I mentioned it on the Raw interview that I did, and I was so excited to do that type of interview, it was an easy decision. It was. After the heaviness and hardness of what that departure meant, the decision was easy in terms of what I needed to do next. I’m so proud of everything. From every Independent I went to, which is every single one on Earth, it felt like. To New Japan, to Ring of Honor, to All In, to All Elite Wrestling. That block being filled provided that clarity to me. I have to take a shot at this. Everyone is different. Everyone wants to be the best pro wrestler or best superstar. I ad a real goal at eight-years-old and I didn’t get the chance…I got the chance, but I wasn’t ready. I failed at the chance. Life is so much more about losing than it is about winning. I absolutely felt I could make the run at it hear. Whether it is unobtained is one thing, but I didn’t want it to go unsaid or untried.”
Rhodes’ last match in the Chicago area was on the Nov. 24 episode of AEW Dynamite when he teamed with Death Triangle to face FTR, Andrade El Idolo and Malakai Black. He has since explained in a number of interviews why he decided it was time to leave the company he helped create.
“I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that,” Rhodes told Variety. “There’s no shoot interview. There’s no nefarious tale that’s going to be told. There were all these different theories and none of them are correct. I mean, there were things about money and creative control. They were printed as fact and it’s been a very difficult two months to see that, when the reality is it was just time. It was a personal matter and we couldn’t move past it. 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 move on. I get an opportunity at my dream, I get another chance at it. And you really can’t leave any stone unturned with that.”
