Cody Rhodes says he has re-signed with WWE and will end his wrestling career with the company.
Rhodes revealed it on Flagrant, apologizing in case it was not his to announce.
“Forgive me if this is breaking news, and please edit it if I’m not allowed to share, which is fine. I just re-signed with WWE,” he said. After being interrupted, he added, “I’ll end my wrestling career with WWE.”
He said the deal lets him leave for outside work and come back. “Say I do have another project. Say I got two other projects, whatever it may be. I’m able to take a step away, and I’m able to collaborate with WWE, and I’m able to come back home,” Rhodes said. He also said he had just spoken to The New York Times about it.
He did not give the length of the contract.
Rhodes, 41, has not set a retirement date. In AEW before returning to WWE in 2022, he said he would stop wrestling at 40. In late 2024, he told the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast he would like to wrestle at his current level “up until probably 45.” By March, he had dropped the number, telling Chris Van Vliet, “I don’t have a number on it anymore. I know that the next deal I do will be my last, as a full-time wrestler.”
In June, he floated a five-year term for that deal on The Ariel Helwani Show and tied the timeline to his daughter. “If I was to sign a new contract, maybe it would be for five years,” he said. “Liberty’s five, and by the time she’s 10, 11, 12, I don’t need to be falling down no more.”
Rhodes is not in the Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match on Saturday, October 10 in New Orleans. Randy Orton interfered in his qualifying triple threat against Kevin Owens and Johnny Gargano on the October 2 SmackDown, and Owens won the spot.
