Cody Rhodes surprised everyone in wrestling when he left All Elite Wrestling in early 2022 and came back to WWE at WWE WrestleMania 38. Just a few months ago, Rhodes’s departure from AEW seemed impossible. He was not only a key figure on AEW TV, but he was also an unofficial co-founder of the company. The last thing he did on TV was get into a fight with Sammy Guevara. Rhodes and Guevara took turns holding the AEW TNT Championship until AEW Dynamite: Beach Break, when Guevara beat Rhodes in a ladder match to seal the deal. It wasn’t clear at the time, but Rhodes’s last AEW match would be that one.
Rhodes would never again be on AEW TV, but he was still around backstage for a little while before he left the company for good.
“The last thing I did at AEW, which no one really knows, was coach a match,” Rhodes told NotSam Wrestling. “And I wasn’t the best teacher. I was more like, “Let you do what you want, and then we’ll talk about it.” Ruby (Soho) and Nyla Rose were in the match. I remember walking out the door and thinking that they were fine and that it wasn’t their fault. I remember thinking, “I guess I’m going to leave.”
Will Cody Rhodes come back to AEW at some point?
Rhodes is at the top of his game in WWE right now. In his first year back with the company, Rhodes led premium live events, won the men’s Royal Rumble match, and was the main event at WWE WrestleMania 39.
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He probably won’t leave all of that behind any time soon, but he could always go back to the company he helped start before the end of his career. Paul Wight, Bryan Danielson, Saraya, and other people who were thought to be WWE mainstays jumped to AEW when the chance came up. Others, like Billy Gunn, have taken jobs backstage in the company, which could be a good fit for Rhodes as he nears the end of his time in the ring.
Rhodes’s biggest reason to go back to AEW would be similar to the reason he went back to WWE: to finish the story. Rhodes’s goal in life has been to win the WWE Championship, which his father never did. When Rhodes started wrestling, he was told this story. What about the things he started making up on his own?
Rhodes was never AEW World Champion. Rhodes has never been the star of an AEW pay-per-view. Rhodes won’t be at AEW ALL IN: London, even though he came up with the idea for it. When he’s done with WWE in a few years, those unfinished AEW goals may make him want to go back.
