Cody Rhodes claims a "personal issue" caused him to leave AEW for a return to WWE

WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes has revealed why he decided to exit All Elite Wrestling.

Cody Rhodes fell out of favor with All Elite fans as his time with the promotion winded down. His final bout was a TNT Championship ladder match against Sammy Guevara at AEW Dynamite: Beach Break 2022. He noted in an interview after the bout that he was working without a contract before exiting AEW.

Rhodes returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 as Vince McMahon's handpicked opponent for Seth Rollins. He went on to defeat The Visionary three times in a row and won the Men's Royal Rumble match at the premium live event in January. However, he was unable to win the big one and lost to Roman Reigns in their Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match in the main event of WrestleMania 39.

The 38-year-old revealed in his new documentary American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes that he left AEW due to personal reasons. Rhodes claimed that he didn't leave Tony Khan's company because of money or other talents in AEW, it was simply because of a personal issue, and his departure allowed him to chase his dream of becoming WWE Champion.

"This is my one request in this entire documentary. This one answer, I don’t want edited in any capacity. Don’t edit this part. I can’t tell you why I left AEW. I can’t, and I won’t, but I’ll tell you the reasons that were said that didn’t actually matter. I didn’t leave AEW because of money and I didn’t leave AEW because of other talents. I left AEW because of a personal issue. That’s it. The byproduct of leaving AEW is the opportunity to go for the biggest dream I ever had and the first dream I had in my life," said Rhodes. [H/T: Ringside News]

WWE star Cody Rhodes on why he got his neck tattoo

The former AEW star has revealed why he got his neck tattoo to the WWE Universe.

Cody Rhodes did a Q&A ahead of the release of his documentary on Peacock, and a wrestling fan wondered why he decided to get a tattoo of his logo on his neck. Rhodes disclosed that two guys inspired him (seemingly hinting at Brock Lesnar and The Rock), and he wanted to wear his brand as "loudly" as he could.

"I don't know [laughing emoji]...There were 2 guys that really inspired me, one had a chest tat and the other had the iconic bull on his arm…at the time I just wanted to wear my own brand as loudly and proudly as I could but didn’t want to copy their style," Cody Rhodes wrote on Twitter.

Cody Rhodes is scheduled to battle Brock Lesnar this Saturday night at WWE SummerSlam. It will be fascinating to see if Rhodes can conquer The Beast at the premium live event in Detroit.

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