"Huge" plans for Cody Rhodes' return and possible debut date revealed

PWInsider recently confirmed that Cody Rhodes has signed with WWE. While it's not "official" just yet, it seems to be set in stone.

It was only a week ago that reports indicated a lot of uncertainty regarding Cody Rhodes' WrestleMania status, as well as his status with WWE. He hadn't put pen to paper at that time, and talks had seemingly stalled in the negotiation stage.

However, with all of that now out of the way, Fightful Select provided a detailed report on Rhodes' status for WrestleMania. They revealed that "huge" pitches were made, but a match against Seth Rollins has been the direction for a while now:

"Wrestling Observer, among others, has reported that the lined up match for Seth Rollins at WrestleMania is Cody Rhodes. Fightful has heard that has been the direction, but that other "huge" pitches were made along the way, but weren't sure if those even made it to Rhodes personally. However, Seth Rollins has been the direction for some time."

The report further stated that travel arrangements have been made and that people within WWE are operating under the assumption that everything is set in stone for night two at WrestleMania:

"A source within WWE has indicated that travel has been set for Cody Rhodes for WrestleMania Sunday, but also specified that could change at any given moment to fit him wherever they want him to appear on the show. People close to Rhodes denied that travel had been set for the show, and said that was inaccurate info. However, those within WWE were working on the notion that Rhodes was planned for night 2 as of this week."

It was noted that when speaking to people within All Elite Wrestling, the speculation is that he won't appear until the day of WrestleMania itself. While Fightful reached out to Rhodes' team, they haven't heard anything back yet.

Where will Cody Rhodes stand when he returns to WWE?

When Cody Rhodes left WWE six years ago, he was a different wrestler altogether. At the time, he was another talented but frustrated superstar who left to fulfill the potential he felt he couldn't within the confines of WWE.

Six years later, he's reportedly set to return as one of the biggest stars in wrestling, having made his name as a top star in various promotions, most notably AEW. While many didn't expect him to leave AEW and join WWE, it just goes to show that departing WWE superstars can go the other way as well.

It will be interesting to see how the company handles the former Intercontinental Champion upon his reported return to the company.