Features

Cody Rhodes Posts Full Explanation On WWE Exit; WWE Confirms Release

By Mark McAllen • Published 22nd May 2016
TJR Wrestling

Yesterday’s surprising news of Cody Rhodes (Stardust) asking for his release from World Wrestling Entertainment took many by surprise. Considering his family legacy and the fact that his half-brother Goldust and his wife Eden still work for the company, Cody seemed like one of the last people you’d think would leave WWE. However, he has not been used prominently in a long time and it seems like he had enough (Keep reading as his official explanation for leaving is included below).

The news of Cody asking for his release made big news yesterday, but the fact that WWE did not officially announce it was cause for much speculation. There were plenty of talks through the internet that Cody asking for his release was all a work and part of the storyline, which is reasonable speculation. With the internet, dirt sheets and not much left to the imagination anymore, WWE has to try and look for new ways to trick the viewers and keep secrets. However, Cody’s release seems to be very real as WWE announced today that Cody Rhodes has officially been released from his contract. They issued the following brief statement on WWE.com:

“WWE has come to terms on the release of Cody Rhodes as of today, May 22, 2016. WWE wishes Rhodes the best in all his future endeavors.”

Shortly after WWE officially announced Cody’s release, Cody took to his personal twitter account to post the following explanation as to why he left. You can click on the images below to read.

https://twitter.com/PrinceCGR/status/734501299337584641

Former Intercontinental Champion and team member (briefly) of the Lords of Darkness, Wade Barrett, who also asked for an early release from his WWE contract, took to Twitter to share some kind words about his friend Cody.

Mark’s reaction: This is some sad news for me as I was always and still am a big Cody Rhodes fan. I joined TJRWrestling in September 2015 and since then I’ve been writing news stories and Lucha Underground reviews. However, I did get to write a column for the site that I’m proud of and I chose to write about Cody and his career. I titled it, “Leagices, Paper Bags, Mustaches and Face Paint: Is WWE Wasting Cody Rhodes?” and if you’d like you can read it right here. I always had high hopes for Cody as in that column I talk about all the different directions Cody has been taken into in his 10 year career with WWE and how he’s made it work. I particularly liked his Dashing/Un-Dashing gimmick and his teaming with Damien Sandow as team Rhodes Scholars. I tried to end that column on a positive note as I mention how although he’s been around seemingly forever, he’s only 30 years old and has so much time in front of him for WWE to turn things around. It seems like from his statement above, the same frustrations I had, he had as well.

A great quote from Cody’s statement above that I really liked was, “It’s been said never to leave money on the table, but no money is worth being less than you are.” That’s a wonderful phrase to live by or remember as you come to a tough cross roads (no pun intended) in your career/life. As he stated at the very end of his comments, he’s clearly not done being a wrestler so I expect to see him pop up in various promotions. I’ve got a lot of respect for Cody after reading his explanation and really hope he achieves in wrestling everything he wants. I truly wish you, Cody, the best in all your future endeavors.

Picture used above is courtesy of WWE.com.