Dave Meltzer Reveals He Was "Surprised" Cody Rhodes Returned To WWE

Dave Meltzer revealed he did not Cody Rhodes to return to WWE last year.

During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Dave Meltzer discussed Rhodes jumping ship back to WWE, admitting that the move came as a surprise:

“I think in some ways it was [shocking], I was a little surprised. But I mean, the one thing was when the renewal wasn’t done, because Tony had an option on Cody to renew the contract like he did with The Young Bucks and others. And when January 1 happened, and there wasn’t a renewal and he was out of contract. I mean, to me, that was very interesting. Even then, I didn’t think he was going to WWE.

“I had contact with him, and he was always like, ‘we’re we are negotiating.’ And then, you know, all of a sudden, it was kind of like, weeks are going by, I mean, mostly assumption, we’re going to work it out. And then all of a sudden I wasn’t hearing that anymore. And that’s when it was like, you know, something happened, which obviously, Vince flew down to meet him is what happened. Then it became different. And he accepted the offer, and, the benefit of hindsight, man, what a great move that was for all concerned.

“Not for AEW, but for Cody. Cody became a much bigger star than he would have been had he stayed. And WWE, I thought that, he would help them a decent amount. But it was way more than I thought. I mean, being the first guy to make that jump, and being a good talker really helped too. But you know, his right place at the right time and instinct and everything like that. I think he played it well for him, you know? If he’d stayed there, he’d been a midcard guy.”

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— Ben Jordan Kerin Jul 05, 2023 07:29PM