On the latest episode of Raw, Seth Rollins made a heated reference to Cody Rhodes’ time in AEW.
Tension between Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes has reached a fever pitch on the way to their match at Hell in a Cell, and on the most recent episode of Monday Night Raw, the two went to war with a battle of scathing words before breaking into a heated brawl.
Cody Rhodes began by addressing Rolllins’ attack on him last week, saying that he’s always been a fan of Rollins, and that his father Dusty Rhodes was also a huge fan of this “generational talent.” Rhodes continued, saying that he was nervous about facing Rollins at WrestleMania because he couldn’t begin the next chapter of his career with a loss, but that in beating Seth twice he’s proven that he’s the better man.
He said that this fact has driven Seth Rollins mad, and that Rollins’ jealousy will lead him to take desperate measures. After Rhodes said that Hell in a Cell will be the biggest challenge of his career, he was interrupted by Seth Rollins himself, who appeared from the crowd to answer his Hell in a Cell opponent.
Seth Rollins made it clear that he doesn’t like Cody Rhodes, and also that he can’t stand the American Nightmare’s weekly pandering to the WWE Universe and all of the chants for him. Then, Rollins made a reference to Cody leaving WWE and later starting AEW, saying:
“You left WWE six years ago because you weren’t good enough. And then, every single day that you were gone, you and your little friends tried to tear down what I was building here. And when that didn’t work out so well for you, you came running back, the prodigal son returns home to fulfill his family legacy. Not on my watch, pal!
“You don’t get to be the conquering hero in my kingdom, oh no no no. You don’t get to take a sledgehammer to the throne and then come back and try to take that throne from me.”
The last line was an obvious reference to Cody taking a sledgehammer to a throne at the 2019 edition of Double or Nothing, a clear shot aimed at Triple H during AEW’s inaugural show. Cody spoke about that moment to Inside the Ropes’ own Kenny McIntosh back in 2021 and said that he wanted to make a statement:
“But, yeah, I wanted to be clear what we were doing. You mentioned the barbs back and forth—that’s part of what we do. Trash talk is part of what we do, but also when they counter-programmed us for no reason other than to split our audience, I didn’t want to meet that in a cowardly fashion.”
“I wanted to flat out say, “OK, well, great. Our show is still going to be better and as crazy as this is, we’re going to win. So if you want to have this moment in time on Wednesday nights where we put all eyes on wrestling, we’re going to win.”
“I don’t want to go into any battle with the idea that we’re going to lose. I’m face-forward in the company on so many things, so I wanted to go in and let them know I am willing to fight. I am willing to openly smash this iconic symbol, and what it stood for and stands for to some fans. Yeah, there’s so much to that moment.”
“That may be my favourite moment. The match was one thing, but that was something that . . . I hear this a lot in wrestling school and it blows my mind. People will be like, “Well, the match . . .” They talk about matches with the sound off. ‘Like, well, it’s different with the sound off.’ That’s ridiculous. Wrestling never has the sound off.”
“So I never, ever will regret that moment because when I turned to head back up the ramp, everybody in the building knew what we were about to do and everybody wanted us to do it, and we did it, and we wanted to make a statement. So that was a statement.”
After the heated exchange, the two men brawled and had to be torn apart by security and backstage agents.
Elsewhere on Monday Night Raw, it was announced that Theory and Mustafa Ali will go one on one for the United States Championship at Hell in a Cell. Full results from the May 30th episode of Raw can be found here.
If you use any quotes from this article, please link back with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.