Cody Rhodes says he will make his intentions clear on WWE Raw

In an interview taken after his match against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38, Cody Rhodes said he would be on Raw this Monday and opened up about his departure from AEW.

In an interview with David Shoemaker, Cody said that he would be on Raw to discuss his intentions. He will also be part of an Axxess panel tomorrow at 11:30 pm.

“I feel so vindicated,” he said following the match. “To go from just nowhere on the card, nowhere to have me, and to go out into the wilderness to make noise…I felt appreciated and I appreciated them.”

He said that Bruce Prichard and Vince McMahon both flew down to meet with him. Cody emphasized McMahon that he needed to be ‘The American Nightmare’, which he developed outside of WWE. He said that McMahon agreed.

“I remember saying it had to be The American Nightmare,” Cody said. “To hear Vince say ‘well it’s not broke,’ it’s vindication to prove people wrong who doubted you and prove people right who were on board with you. I’m going to talk about it all on Raw, but it’s pretty clear what I am here to do, there’s unfinished business for my family that we never got, and I am going to be the one to get it.”

He also said that leaving AEW this past February to come back to WWE was the easiest decision he ever made.

“No bad blood in the best of ways but it was the easiest decision that I ever made,” he said. “It was just time. That show is doing well, people are getting paid that weren’t getting paid. How much are you going to do for everybody else until you say ‘you know what, I want one for me’. I felt like that tonight. It felt real good.”

“It was time for me to move on,” he later added. “I wrestled everyone I wanted to wrestle, I didn’t want to be a 15 time TNT Champion or hold the belt hostage, I wanted to move on to maybe another piece of leather.”

When Shoemaker brought up the promo Rhodes cut prior to leaving AEW, Rhodes said he was not aware that he would soon be leaving the company.

“I think everyone knew that something was wrong,” he said. “I was so happy to set the table. Then Bryan [Danielson] came, and Punk came, and [Adam] Cole came, great. I can do my thing now. And to be there for MJF, to be there for Sammy [Guevara], and the kids. Looking at that interview, I didn’t know, but if I did know, I need to [get that] out.”

Rhodes also emphasized that he had signed a full time, multi-year deal with WWE. and was not part time.

At tonight’s WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes returned to the WWE after six years, defeating Seth Rollins. Prior to the match, Rollins’ opponent was billed as an opponent of Vince McMahon’s choosing.