Cody Rhodes Reveals What Vince McMahon Promised Him When He Came Back To WWE

One year ago, news broke that Cody Rhodes was leaving AEW, and rumors began swirling of a potential return to WWE. As it played out, Rhodes returned at WWE WrestleMania 38 and defeated Seth Rollins. "The American Nightmare" is now on his way to the WrestleMania 39 main event to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship — an opportunity that fans wonder if he was promised upon returning. Rhodes recently appeared on "MMA Hour" and explained to Ariel Helwani what unfolded before his match against Rollins.

After what has been described as a "seismic" move from AEW to WWE, Rhodes revealed that Bruce Prichard was the first person to make contact once he was "free and clear" from his AEW contract. Rhodes saw it as an opportunity for closure after the way he left WWE in 2016. Vince McMahon offered to fly out to meet Rhodes, and that's when he felt it "got real."

"My sister said it best, 'Be careful what you wish for,' because that meeting was what I wished for," Rhodes said. "Just the idea of wrestling Seth. That's all it was, 'Would you wrestle Seth Rollins at WrestleMania?” Rhodes shared that when he was Stardust, he wanted to catch up to "Dusty's kids" like Rollins, and the idea that he was on his way to doing that made it feel like his entire career was worth it.

"One text later and the next day, that's what happened," Rhodes stated. "And it was just that. Just the idea that 'you'll wrestle Seth Rollins at WrestleMania.' I think other people think there was other promises, [but] there weren't. It was just that because I didn't need any other promises."