"Let's bring him back home" - Veteran believes Vince McMahon brought back current WWE star after watching him on AEW (Exclusive)

Since its inception in 2019, AEW has gone on to become one of the biggest wrestling promotions in the world. It has attracted some of the biggest stars from across the globe, with the likes of Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Will Ospreay, and Kazuchika Okada among others all having wrestled for the company.

Many stars have even left Tony Khan's promotion for pastures new, with Cody Rhodes and CM Punk being the most high-profile exits. Wrestling veteran Bill Apter believes that seeing former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon brought Cody back to his company after seeing his success in All Elite Wrestling.

He was speaking on an episode of The Wrestling Time Machine on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge when he made this claim. He said that he believes that the exposure CM Punk and Cody Rhodes got by being on AEW led to WWE bringing Cody back. This move paved the road for CM Punk's return as well.

"I'm going to stick with this, that the saturation of AEW with Cody and CM Punk getting exposed on their TV made WWE look and say, why aren't we doing something with this guy? Let's bring him back home." Bill Apter said.

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Ever since returning to WWE, Cody Rhodes has become an even bigger star than he was in AEW. He became the first person since Stone Cold Steve Austin to win back-to-back Royal Rumbles, winning the 2023 and 2024 editions. He would then dethrone Roman Reigns as the Undisputed WWE Champion, bringing an end to his 1316-day title reign.

That wouldn't be the only historic title reign Cody would end in the promotion, as he put an end to John Cena's record-breaking 17th World Championship reign as well, taking the title off him at SummerSlam.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed