Cody Rhodes Says Leaving WWE Was Like Planning A Prison Break

Last year Cody Rhodes shocked the wrestling world when he left WWE. Life after WWE can be tough for some wrestling stars, but Cody hit the ground running, and he’s had a tremendous year.

Even though Cody left WWE in May of 2016, he recently told The Charlotte Observer that he had been planning his next move six months before he left the company.

“I was just talking about this and it’s made the difference. When guys leave – whether they decide to leave or they’re forced out – there’s usually this period of time we see them around the world and they can ride that WWE wave and use it, and then it goes away. It loses its luster after a few months. I planned my escape for six months before I left. I loved WWE, but in the end I was unhappy. It was just like planning an escape from a maximum security prison. I’d released a list of potential opponents online so when the 90-day no-compete clause was up, I had matches booked on good faith. I thought about the follow-up.”

It’s safe to say that Cody made the right decision. He became the first wrestler ever to appear at WrestleMania, Bound For Glory, ROH Final Battle and NJPW Wrestle Kingdom over the course of a year, and he’s the current ROH Champion.

Do you want to see Cody continue on his path, or would you like to see him return to WWE someday? Sound off in the comments below.

On this week’s episode we’re talking to Simon Grimm, aka Simon Gotch about what’s next for his career and more. In the episode Simon goes into some interesting ideas that he pitched to WWE creative, where he wants to wrestle next, and he also shares the story of how he found out The Vaudevillains were getting called up to the WWE main roster. We’re also sharing our predictions for the WWE Battleground pay-per-view and more. You can subscribe to Still Real Radio on iTunes, and you can also check out the latest episode below.