Cody Rhodes opened this week’s Monday Night Raw with an emotional promo explaining why he was back in the WWE and how his ultimate goal is to finally become WWE Champion. He didn’t get physical at any point during the show, only shaking Seth Rollins’ hand after “The Visionary” strutted his way down the ring. But once the cameras stopped rolling, Rhodes had a match with Kevin Owens in front of the crowd at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.ย
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Clips from that match have since made their way online, some of which you can see below. Rhodes won the bout, with some of the highlights including him shaking hands with Owens just before the match and KO imitating The Young Bucks to try and rile Rhodes up. Rhodes won after hitting his father’s trademark punches and Bionic Elbow, followed by a CrossRhodes.ย
Rhodes’ debut at WrestleMania 38 coincided with his first interview post-AEW departure getting released by Variety. He finally addressed why he left the young promotion he helped create, though stopped short of explaining what situation caused the rift between himself and Tony Khan.ย
“I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that,” Rhodes said. “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.”
He then talked in a separate interview with Ariel Helwani about other AEW stars potentially following in his footsteps โ “I would only give somebody honest advice. That might be right for somebody. This was right for me. I don’t know when the first…I think I know who those people will be because there are certain people who fit this ‘superstar mode,’ I think I know how the types might be and when they ask, I’m going to give them the best advice I possibly can. I can say though, that the schedule here, at the least the schedule I had the first time, is not for the non-committed, you can’t be one foot. It is a full-time commitment. You’re not getting paid to work one day a week. That’s not knocking anybody who is. That might be the biggest shock and change. The structure here is positive. It’s a wonderful structure. It’s a little less punk rock, and punk rock is great, and then you want to play something else. That’s what I experienced.”
