Cody Rhodes reveals he had no clue what WWE had up its sleeve before the big announcement on August 6 – ESPN has acquired the rights to World Wrestling Entertainment’s Premium Live Events.
At WWE SummerSlam Night 2, The American Nightmare ended John Cena’s 17th world title reign, ergo winning his second. The Biggest Party of the Summer is one of the “Big Five” PLEs, with the others being Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, and Survivor Series. In 2025, Cody Rhodes was in the main event of WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, and SummerSlam.
Cody Rhodes Reveals Even He Was Not Informed About The WWE-ESPN Deal
Talking to ESPN, Rhodes revealed Nick Khan and Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE’s President and Chief Content Officer, respectively, did not put him in the loop about what was about to happen. However, they did inform him to “be ready” as something was going to go down.
Like Roman Reigns earlier today, the WWE Champion called ESPN “the king of sports media,” stating that it was an honor to be part of the family.
You guys [WWE] don’t trust us, apparently. I wasn’t going to tell anyone,” Cody Rhodes joked. “Nick Khan and Triple H, they just gave me the iggy. They said, ‘Hey, I know you’re going to be on vacation, but just be ready. Something is going to happen on Wednesday. And look at this! To be part of this family [ESPN], what an honor.
Rhodes then spoke about his reaction to the announcement. “I started doing my theory this weekend because I knew we were going to be moving our PLEs around and the fact that we can now have, you know, the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, you mentioned, and of course, our biggest event, WrestleMania, going to be on ESPN platforms, that’s the perfect match. WWE is sports entertainment, and ESPN is the king of sports media. The one. So, it’s perfect.”
Now that Rhodes has regained the WWE Title, fans are excited to see who will step up to challenge him. While other main event storylines have been either teased or established already, including Cena’s next after losing to Rhodes, The American Nightmare has to wait. Perhaps fans will get the answers this Friday on SmackDown.