Cody Rhodes, Bruce Prichard recall WWE’s pitch to ‘bring Cody home’ in 2022

Bruce Prichard and Cody Rhodes discussed Rhodes’ negotiations to return to WWE in 2022 during the latest episode of So What Do You Wanna Talk About?

Rhodes left AEW and returned to WWE in time to be Seth Rollins’ mystery opponent at WrestleMania 38. Prichard says that when WWE executives met with Rhodes in early 2022, their approach was to tell him that it was “time to come home.”

Prichard said:

“Our anticipation and our expectation, frankly, was one of, ‘Hey, man, Cody, we want you to come home.’ And that was our sole purpose, to say ‘come home.’ The door’s open and we’re glad you went away and did what you did, we’re very happy for you. We feel that the best place for you is back home, and come do it with us.”

“There was a feeling on our side (that) we were not leaving until we had, at least, a handshake agreement as far as what the future was going to be and what the future was going to be with you.”

Rhodes said his father would have accepted WWE’s offer immediately based on the figure they presented. He left the meeting feeling like “a little kid” and says he had to call Brandi to tell her their plans were changing.

Rhodes continued:

“What was funny was even though I was really well structured and prepared and had things I wanted to talk about and also wanted to be there in the moment, it hit me like a car wreck. It hit me like a car wreck in one where you’re not hurt, one where you’re shocked.”

Rhodes said of a conversation he had with Prichard after the meeting:

“But once I got out of that room, I became a little kid again. And as a little kid, I remember asking you, what do I do?”

“You said, ‘I think you know what you should do.’ And I thought, ‘yeah.’ And when I say car wreck, because then as soon as we parted ways, when you call your spouse, when you call your wife, and you’re like, ‘Hey, something happened,’ cause that wasn’t the plan.”

Rhodes returning to WWE was first reported in March 2022, only weeks before he did so at WrestleMania 38. The storyline reason for his return is that Cody wanted to win the WWE Championship neither he nor his father had been able to win before. Two years later, he accomplished that goal, defeating Roman Reigns for the title at WrestleMania 40.

Rhodes’ full conversation with Bruce Prichard is available below.