Cody Rhodes shocked the world when he returned to WWE at the Grandest Stage of Them All. His match was the highlight of WrestleMania 38 from an in-ring perspective, and his run ever since has been nothing short of a fairytale. But there is one person who always knew he was going to return to WWE; and that is Kevin Owens.
Speaking of ADRENALINE…@CodyRhodes#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/JHsYTVsHEz
— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2022
Cody Rhodes & Kevin Owens were on different levels in 2016
Back in 2016, the man we know as The American Nightmare today wasn’t even working as himself! Cody was still straddled with the awful Stardust gimmick and was wandering The Cosmic Wasteland.
Meanwhile, Kevin Owens was at the receiving end of a massive push. He debuted on the main roster as the NXT Champion and beat up the US Champion at the time; John Cena!
He followed it up by quickly winning the Intercontinental Title & the Universal Championship as well. In his first 3 years on the main roster, Owens did what Rhodes couldn’t do in a decade; become World Champion. And now, he has returned to WWE to fulfil that very dream.
Kevin Owens thinks Cody Rhodes was going to eventually return to WWE
KO stopped by the After The Bell podcast to chat with Corey Graves about his WrestleMania match against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, calling out Matthew McConaughey, and his thoughts on Cody Rhodes’ return to WWE. He started off by talking about how integral Cody was to his initial main roster run, saying;
“When he was here, he and I got close pretty quickly. Then he left and that really sucked for me. I have people in this business that are really more like brothers to me than friends. It’s not everybody, but there’s a few people out there that I consider more like family. Cody’s one of them.” – [H/T – Wrestling Headlines]
He went on to reveal that he put The American Nightmare in touch with The Young Bucks when he was starting out on the indie circuit. Within 2 years, the trio had formed All Elite Wrestling, something Owens was really proud of. But he revealed that in his mind, Cody’s ultimate goal was returning to WWE, saying;
“Cody went out and did that. He didn’t do it himself. He had a lot of help from a lot of people, but he was an integral part of that. Then he came back here, which I don’t know as much, but I think that was always his ultimate goal.” – Kevin Owens
Indeed, it does look that way, when you consider the fact that Cody called his decision to come back to WWE “easy”. He has been heavily featured as a top star on Monday Night RAW, and is working with the biggest superstars in the company; including KO, whom he wrestled just this past week.
Are you okay, @FightOwensFight?@CodyRhodes #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/u3qHL3ZnlG
— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2022
Regardless of whether The American Nightmare always planned on returning to the WWE or not is something only he can tell us. But for now, all evidence points to the fact that that was indeed the case.
