Cody Rhodes calls leaving AEW ‘the easiest thing I ever did’

Leaving AEW and returning to WWE wasn’t a difficult decision for Cody Rhodes.

Rhodes and his wife Brandi announced their AEW departure in February 2022. Less than two months later, Rhodes returned to WWE by defeating Seth Rollins at last year’s WrestleMania.

In an interview with GQ Sports in advance of SummerSlam, Rhodes was asked if it was hard to leave AEW after playing such a big role in the creation of the promotion. Rhodes responded by saying that leaving AEW was “the easiest thing” he’s ever done:

No, it was the easiest thing I ever did. And it’s because I had a personal issue that I wasn’t going through, over, or around. I was just going to steer clear of it. If anything, I wanted to look at what we had done at AEW and say, ‘Amazing, what a wonderful time, a beautiful memory, and very special in every way. And now it’s time to move on.’ You know, all good things. And it certainly was like that with me. So I mean it not in a negative way, like I was happy to burn rubber and speed out, but it just wasn’t a decision that was difficult for me at all. Or for Brandi.

“American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes” premiered on Peacock earlier this week. In the documentary, Rhodes also cited the personal issue as one of the reasons he left AEW. Rhodes hasn’t gone into detail on what the personal issue was.

Rhodes is facing Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam this Saturday night. They have a 1-1 record against each other heading into the match. Rhodes defeated Lesnar at Backlash, but Lesnar then evened things up with a victory at Night of Champions.