Cody Rhodes Recounts Talk With Vince McMahon Before WWE Hell In A Cell

Cody Rhodes revealed WWE Chairman Vince McMahon spoke with him before his famous Hell in a Cell match with Seth Rollins, and told him he was ready "to call it" if the injured wrestler wasn't able to push through. Rhodes discussed the conversation with McMahon on Logan Paul's "Impaulsive" podcast. After tearing his pec, Rhodes wrestled Rollins last summer at Hell in a Cell with the extremely visible injury on full display. Rhodes' performance in the match is widely regarded as one of the most impressive in recent memory, pushing through the painful bout knowing that his injury required surgery to fix either way.

"I wasn't going to have it any other way," he said. "I had to have the match at least." Rhodes said he passed WWE's medical exam because "it was simple, it was completely torn, there was nothing else that could happen to it." But still, WWE and its longtime chairman had reservations about Rhodes going out there. "[Vince] knew I wasn't going to take 'no,' " Rhodes said. "I had a great conversation with him and he was really clear about, 'Hey man, if you're struggling out there, we've got to call it,'" Rhodes recalled.

Rhodes said referee Rod Zapata spoke to him "the whole time" to make sure he was okay to continue. "I was just on Planet Z," he said. "I was in shock," Rhodes remembered. "You know shock puke where you feel like you're going to vomit? Like, when you break a bone or whatever? I hit something up front and thought, nope, and I sat right up. And it looked like I sat up for the camera shot, but I sat right up because I thought, 'Here it comes.' "