Eric Bischoff Reveals Text He Sent Cody Rhodes Following AEW Exit

During the debut episode of an AdFreeShows exclusive podcast titled Strictly Business, Eric Bischoff spoke about what his thoughts were on Cody Rhodes's WWE return and revealed a conversation he had with Cody when he originally left the company in 2016.

Of course, Cody made his WWE return after a six-year absence from the company at WrestleMania 38, defeating Seth Rollins in the process and then making his intentions of winning the WWE World Title clear on Monday Night Raw.

The former President of WCW detailed why it took balls for him to leave WWE the first time and why the situation reminded him so much of something Dusty Rhodes would do.

"I was excited as hell for him," Bischoff said, reacting to Cody's WWE return. "Let me put some context to this because I always bust other people's chops for not doing that. I met Cody when he was a little kid when he was working with his dad and I didn't see Cody really again until he was in WWE when I was in WWE as a talent in the early 2000s.

"I never really got to know Cody as an adult on a level that I could understand what he was going through and what he was thinking. I didn't know Cody that well but when Cody left WWE, I texted Cody and just told him how proud I was of him and I was proud of Cody because of leaving WWE. You've got a 30-year-old kid, making close to a million dollars a year and he decides to chuck it, that takes courage, that takes passion and it's also kind of insane.

"I wouldn't have done it but Cody did and that reminded me of Dusty because if Dusty wasn't creatively satisfied, the money didn't matter. He would make bad decisions financially because his desire to create and to see a vision come to life was one of the most important things to him. I saw Dusty struggle with that, Dusty and I at different points were really good friends, and had some very very deep long conversations about life in general but mostly about business and wrestling.

"So when Cody left, I thought that is Dusty and Dusty would be proud. Now Michelle, Cody's mother, was probably going what the hell are you doing? Don't do that, because she lived through what it was like with Dusty and the ups and downs financially. Cody did it and I sent him a text and I just said 'man, I am so proud of you and your dad would be too.' Quick little text, that was it."

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff spoke about Rhodes' return match against Seth Rollins, calling it "magic". The WWE Hall of Fame continued to talk about his initial reaction to Cody announcing he was leaving AEW and revealed why he believes the American Nightmare has "the biggest set of stones of any human being" he's ever met.

"Then I heard about Cody leaving AEW, that was even more surprising to me because I know how fulfilling, at least initially that had to be," Bischoff asserted. "I'm not hearing this from Cody, Cody and I have not had any conversations about this, I'm just putting two and two together based on what I knew of Dusty and I'm seeing from Cody and connecting the dots in terms of similarities.

"When he left AEW to go to WWE, I was like this kid was born with the biggest set of stones of any human being I've met because he's willing to walk away. Again, I don't know, I'm pretty certain that Tony Khan would've offered him a lot of money and probably made some concessions along the way to keep Cody aboard but he walked away from it because his heart wasn't in it.

"He wasn't being fulfilled creatively and he wasn't able to execute the vision he had in his mind so once again, he's willing to walk away from the career opportunity of a lifetime. Hell, 10 lifetimes. How many times do you have to go through life to get an opportunity like that, that Cody had with AEW? But he was willing to walk away from it and go back to the company that he spent a fair amount of time trashing.

"That takes balls. I sent him the same text and we had a longer conversation this time, just in text. Same thing man, I'm just so proud of him. It takes more courage than anybody could possibly know that hasn't been in a similar situation."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit AdFreeShows.com with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.