Cody Rhodes parted ways with WWE in 2016, and leaving the company completely changed the trajectory of his career. Rhodes ended up forging his own path in professional wrestling which led to him becoming a key figure in the launch of AEW, and then led to his eventual WWE return.
However, it seems that Dusty Rhodes actually wanted him to leave WWE earlier as he explained on Wrestledelphia Radio that Dusty told him to ask for his release following WrestleMania 28.
“At 28, I recalled particularly, he was unhappy with the direction things were going with me and Big Show, and he just thought that I was so close to the keys to the kingdom, and they were slipping away, that maybe leaving would wake them to the idea that this is somebody who wanted to captain your ship and the way you guys are treating him has pushed him out.”
“But it seemed at the time like kind of a leopard’s play, so it just didn’t interest me. I wanted to stick it out, and I always tried to not take Pop’s advice, because he’s my dad, so the advice always came from that part of his heart, not the businessman part of his mind, but his heart, and actually at the end of my WWE career, he was right that I should have made that decision maybe a little sooner.”
Ultimately leaving WWE turned out to be the right move for Cody as he ended up returning last year and now he’s one of the top stars in the company. Cody is currently set to challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39 next month. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.
