Cody Rhodes Reveals The Last Thing He Did With AEW

Cody Rhodes shocked the wrestling world when he departed All Elite Wrestling in early 2022, returning to WWE at WWE WrestleMania 38. Rhodes's AEW exit seemed impossible just months prior, as he was not only a central figure on AEW television but was also an unofficial co-founder of the company. His final on-screen program came in the form of a feud with Sammy Guevara. Rhodes and Guevara traded the AEW TNT Championship until AEW Dynamite: Beach Break, which saw Guevara put the nail in the coffin when he bested Rhodes in a ladder match. It wasn't known at the time, but that bout would end up being Rhodes's final AEW match.

While Rhodes would never appear on AEW TV again, he still maintained a backstage presence for a short time before he officially departed the company.

"The last thing I did at AEW, no one really knows, the last thing I did was coach a match," Rhodes told NotSam Wrestling. "And I wasn't the best coach, I'm more of, 'Let you do what you want to' and then we talk about it after. [The match was] with Ruby (Soho) and Nyla Rose. I remember walking out the door, they did fine, it wasn't anything to do with them. I remember thinking, 'I think I'm leaving.'"

Will Cody Rhodes Ever Return to AEW?

Rhodes is currently on the run of his career in WWE. Within his first year back in the company, Rhodes headlined premium live events, won the men's Royal Rumble match, and main-evented WWE WrestleMania 39. It's unlikely that he would leave all that behind anytime soon, but there is always the possibility he returns to the company he helped start before his career ends.

Thought-to-be WWE lifers like Paul Wight, Bryan Danielson, Saraya and others have all jumped to AEW when the opportunity presented itself. Others like Billy Gunn have assumed backstage positions within the company, something that could suit Rhodes towards the end of his in-ring tenure.

The biggest pull back to AEW for Rhodes would be close to what brought him back to WWE: finishing the story. Rhodes's career mission has been to win the title his father never won, the WWE Championship. That is the story Rhodes inherited when he began wrestling. What about the stories he began writing himself?

Rhodes never won the AEW World Championship. Rhodes never headlined an AEW pay-per-view. Rhodes won't be part of AEW ALL IN: London, an event whose namesake is his brainchild. After he checks off his WWE boxes in the years to come, those unfulfilled AEW goals may tempt him to head back.