Cody Rhodes Wasn’t Fully Cleared To Compete Until Day Of WWE Royal Rumble

Cody Rhodes was out of action since Hell In A Cell last year, in an instant classic match against Seth Rollins. The American Nightmare was on the shelf for a long time due to a torn pectoral muscle, but he returned during last night’s Royal Rumble. It seems Rhodes wasn’t fully cleared to compete until the day of the Royal Rumble.

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Cody Rhodes made a long-awaited comeback to in-ring action at the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble as the 30th entrant. He ignited the crowd with an electrifying brawl against Seth Rollins, sending waves of excitement through the arena. The return of the American Nightmare immediately heightened the already intense match.

Cody Rhodes made his way to WrestleMania by eliminating GUNTHER. He received cheers from fans worldwide. Rhodes then added emphasis to the moment by pausing to hold up a “too sweet” before pointing at the WrestleMania sign.

While speaking to Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, The American Nightmare revealed that he was not fully cleared to compete in the match until the day of the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event.

“I went to the Performance Center, I remember I made a joke in AEW about hip toss class, I did a hip toss class. Thank God for it, actually, because I worked with…I won’t say one guy’s name because I don’t want to blow his spot up, but I worked with Carmelo Hayes. Joe Gacy was the other guy, I don’t know why I’m not crediting him. They were rough with me, they were rugged. It let me feel what I need to feel to know where to get. I can’t wait for their opportunities to come because they are incredible wrestlers and incredible stars. That experience, I got partially cleared through that. I was able to do what I want, my wind was good, I was training heavily with PT [physical therapy] and an off-site team that my wife got for me.

I didn’t really get fully cleared until today. Looked good, and everything was great, but they still had to get in there, grab it, feel on it. That’s a wild situation, when you’ve been announced for the Royal Rumble, you’ve seen your shirts and seen the young fans. I think it was more of a formality than anything, but it still had me kind of shaking. WWE has been very good to me medically, very good. I’ll be in PT for the rest of my life, though. I’ve been there every week and now I have to just do preventive stuff. It changed everything about how I’ve trained.”

Cody Rhodes was also WWE’s backup plan if The Rock didn’t make it for WrestleMania 39. We will have to wait and see whether Cody Rhodes will challenge Roman Reigns for one of his titles or both of them.

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