During Cody Rhodes' final year in AEW, it became clear things weren't going well for the EVP. He had distanced himself from The Elite and was a babyface receiving a heel reaction from fans.
Feuds with the likes of Anthony Ogogo, QT Marshall, and Malakai Black didn't quite work and it seemed a big part of that was down to the audience being ready for a less clean-cut version of the American Nightmare. However, upon making a triumphant return to WWE, Rhodes was embraced by fans who watch that company's offerings and is now its top Superstar alongside Roman Reigns.
During a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Rhodes revealed that, had he turned heel, the endgame was for him to square off in a match with WCW icon and WWE Hall of Famer, Sting.
"I was going to wrestle Sting," he confirms. "I don't think I've ever shared that with anybody and nothing was on paper or anything like that. But I can say I got a tremendous offer from AEW creatively, financially, the full package."
"You won't hear me say anything bad about AEW or Tony [Khan] or my time there. It was a tremendous offer, but the offer wasn't right for me. What I wanted to get back to was the first goal that I ever had [winning the WWE Championship[. But yeah, that probably would've been the endgame. That's what had been discussed, was to get one [match] with one of my heroes, Sting."
Rhodes went on to say that he faced the decision of either wrestling one of his heroes or working with one of them in Paul "Triple H' Levesque. Given the success he's found in WWE since returning, it's become apparent Cody made the right decision due to him clearly being a WWE Superstar at heart.
AEW actually started teasing a possible match between Rhodes and Sting in December 2020, and Khan clearly felt that it was a good way of getting Cody to stick around. However, the American Nightmare has since main evented WrestleMania and is still expected to be the one who ultimately dethrones Reigns.
Do you think he made the right decision?