Cody Rhodes left WWE in 2016 to make a name for himself across the global wrestling scene. He went on to help launch AEW before eventually leaving Tony Khan’s promotion and making his return to WWE in 2022.
The American Nightmare recently spoke to All The Smoke podcast, where he announced that his next WWE contract will be his last, and he’ll be done with WWE for good after that:
“I remember hearing somebody saying there is no such thing as the (work/life) balance. You’re either doing one or you’re doing the other. I have really tried everything I can to bring it together, and a lot of times that’s expensive.
I know that’s a silly thing, but I don’t mind going in on the PJ (private jet) that gets me home at 3 in the morning versus showing up at 5pm the next day. I just try to be there at the breakfast table for my oldest daughter, which is Liberty. Because that’s what she expects. She does understand that I go away for SmackDown, which is what she refers to everything to everything as.
Leilani, my newborn, I just always try to find the moments, and a lot of it can be… we’re lucky as wrestlers that we get to travel the world and wrestle everywhere. The way the company is now, you can make it so the family comes with.
This isn’t an era… a lot of wrestlers – I’ve really gone in on the ’80s today and I shouldn’t have – but they almost did it in spite of the fact that they had a family versus the idea that they do it for their family.
My girls, I got photos with them, with Liberty, at SummerSlam, and she knows the backstage area, she’s gone to still photos, she’s taken some photos before. We’ve tried to bring her into the mix because that’s the only way to do it.
You’ve got guys who’ve got tour buses now and those are mini homes, so you can have your life. That’s special.
You get to a point where, you can only go so long. I think I know my number where I’d like to get with this. I was lucky that my dad, who was the best dad ever, he was out of the game – he was in it as producer and as a creator, he’d pop in here as kind of an old man wrestler every now and then, but he was out of the game so he was number one dad. At every game, he coached our football team. He’s known in Cobb County as Coach more than The American Dream. That’s what he was.
I’d like to make it, by the time they hit that age, that I’m not going that often. Or I can’t really walk around that much. We’re getting closer. What I’d say is probably my last contract with WWE – the next contract I sign, probably my last, and finish my days with WWE. It’s the house that built me and it’s the house that brought me back and put me in this wonderful, wonderful position.
It’s very hard to balance, it certainly is. When you’re in it, you’ve gotta be in it.”
Cody Rhodes defeated Drew McIntyre at Saturday Night’s Main Event to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship.
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