Cody Rhodes made his big WWE return at WWE WrestleMania 38 where he beat Seth Rollins. The former AEW star spoke with Variety about what his return to WWE means, why he decided to depart from AEW, and more.

Regarding how he is feeling about the return, he described having various feelings from happy, excitement, pressure, responsibility, all of it. He thinks it’s kind of a culmination of his whole career and it’s returning to him in something he built and nobody else. He called it the “ultimate vindication.”

Rhodes On What He Told Key WWE Officials:

“I told Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard and Nick Khan — this very small circle of individuals — I told them what I truly believe and it’s that I’m the best wrestler in the world. And to go further with it, I actually don’t think there’s a close second. But with that said, the opportunity now exists to prove it, and that’s what I’m most excited about.

It’s a completely different individual returning to the game. It’s a different brand. It’s someone who’s experienced all the wonders of independent wrestling, of traveling internationally, of being able to get on the ground with the fans that make this whole ship move. But different person or not, I’m still that little kid that I mentioned in an AEW promo that wants what my dad didn’t get, and I’m not going to say it out loud because I don’t want to jinx it. But, you know, he went to Madison Square Garden, stood across from Superstar Billy Graham and he held it in his hands, the goal of mine, and it was taken away because that was the context of the match. I understand that now as an adult, but as a kid, that was the only reason I ever wanted to get in, so that I could get what he didn’t get.”

Rhodes On His AEW Departure:

Rhodes stated that there is nothing bad to say about how his AEW run came to end. At the end of the day, it was all about him feeling like it was time to leave a company he helped launch in 2019 alongside Tony Khan, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks.

“I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that. 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 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.”