Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and WWE executive Bruce Prichard have pulled back the curtain on the negotiations that led to Rhodes’s shocking return to WWE in 2022. On the latest episode of the “So What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, the two men shared the story of their initial meeting and the emotional, “car wreck” of a moment that changed the course of Rhodes’s career and the wrestling landscape.
Prichard and Vince McMahon met with Rhodes. Prichard explained that the company’s approach was a simple and direct one: it was time for him to come home. The meeting was the first formal contact between the two sides after Rhodes’s surprising departure from All Elite Wrestling, the company he helped found. Prichard detailed the mindset of the WWE executives in that meeting.
“Our anticipation and our expectation, frankly, was one of, ‘Hey, man, Cody, we want you to come home.’ And that was our sole purpose, to say ‘come home.’ The door’s open and we’re glad you went away and did what you did, we’re very happy for you. We feel that the best place for you is back home, and come do it with us,” Prichard said. He added, “There was a feeling on our side (that) we were not leaving until we had, at least, a handshake agreement as far as what the future was going to be and what the future was going to be with you.”
Rhodes, who came to the meeting structured and prepared, said the emotional weight of the moment “hit me like a car wreck.” He admitted that the financial offer from WWE was so strong that he believes his father, Dusty Rhodes, would have accepted it immediately. The experience left him feeling like “a little kid” again.
“What was funny was even though I was really well structured and prepared and had things I wanted to talk about and also wanted to be there in the moment, it hit me like a car wreck. It hit me like a car wreck in one where you’re not hurt, one where you’re shocked,” Rhodes explained. “But once I got out of that room, I became a little kid again. And as a little kid, I remember asking you, what do I do?” Prichard’s simple reply was, “I think you know what you should do.”
The decision was a life-altering one for Rhodes, and he recalled the phone call he had to make to his wife, Brandi, to tell her their plans had suddenly changed. “When you call your spouse, when you call your wife, and you’re like, ‘Hey, something happened,’ cause that wasn’t the plan,” he said. The return was first reported in March 2022, just weeks before his surprise appearance as Seth Rollins’s mystery opponent at WrestleMania 38. The storyline for his return was built around his quest to win the one championship his father never held, a goal he finally accomplished at WrestleMania 40.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
