Top WWE star and 2025 King of the Ring winner, “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, appeared in a preview clip from an upcoming episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. In the clip, he discussed various topics, including his reasons for leaving AEW in 2022.
Rhodes said, “There’s clearly bad blood, but there’s also clearly respect and love. In the end, the way I 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.’ I don’t believe in the cold-hearted backstabby 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, something in between — we’re sitting on some magic. 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.”
Rhodes departed from AEW in February 2022 after serving as an Executive Vice President for the company. He is now back in WWE, where he will challenge Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena for the title at this weekend’s SummerSlam premium live event.
You can check out Rhodes’ comments below.
