Cody Rhodes Recalls Vince McMahon Offering Him 'Life-Changing Money' For WWE Return

In 2022, three years after helping create AEW, Cody Rhodes made the decision to leave there and return to WWE. Rhodes has explained his motivation for the move from various angles over the years, and during a recent interview on "Six Feet Under" with Mark Calaway, Rhodes and The Undertaker detailed the offer extended to the former AEW star by the controversial Vince McMahon.

"I didn't know [McMahon] flew down," Calaway said.

"To Atlanta," Rhodes confirmed.

"Tell me if this is true or false: did he put the number on a piece of paper and slide it?" Calaway asked.

"Yeah," Rhodes said with a laugh, before acting out McMahon's gesture.

Rhodes stated that it was an entirely unnecessary thing to do, as Rhodes saw the number McMahon wrote down before he slid it across the table between them. However, he did appreciate that it was an "old school" thing to do, as Rhodes has plenty of love for the business's bygone eras.

"How do you react to life-changing money?" Rhodes asked. "This wasn't the first time I'd seen something like that but, certainly, you never learn how to – what's your move? What do you do? Yeah, do you no-sell it?"

The wrestler said he replied to McMahon simply, relaying that it was "a lot of money." Rhodes took the offer and debuted on WWE TV shortly thereafter at WrestleMania 38. Although he laughed at himself looking back at how he handled the meeting, Rhodes also pointed out that there's no way to fully prepare for such a situation, and everyone is going to react a little bit differently.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Six Feet Under" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.