The Miz believes Cody Rhodes leaving WWE made him the poster child upon his return
Cody Rhodes left WWE in 2016 and returned in 2022; however, his time away from the promotion helped him reach his career’s peak.
Leaving WWE as Stardust in 2016 over creative disputes, Rhodes began his own arc. Rhodes started wrestling for different promotions, indie promotions across the world, in NJPW, and other wrestling promotions before starting AEW in 2018-19 with Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Tony Khan.
However, after a few years there, Rhodes jumped promotions and returned to WWE in 2022 at WrestleMania 38. Recently speaking to Denise Salcedo, The Miz expressed how Rhodes’ leaving WWE and Rhodes’ time away from there helped him become the promotion’s poster boy.
“I remember when Cody left and said, ‘I’m better than this. I know I’m better than this, and you’re not treating me like the main event that I feel like I am.’ And he went out and became a main event, and now he is our poster child of WWE,” The Miz said. “And if he did not do that, didn’t have the balls to do that, then who knows where he would have been, but he did it. And it’s awesome to see.”
Since returning to WWE, Rhodes has won the Royal Rumble twice, won the 2025 King of the Ring, the 2024 Crown Jewel Championship, WWE tag-team gold with Jey Uso, and the Undisputed WWE Championship thrice. Rhodes recently faced CM Punk for the Undisputed WWE title at SummerSlam 2026 but failed to win it from him.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
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