After returning to the WWE after a six-year absence, Cody Rhodes had one superstar who he couldn’t wait to meet.
The popular wrestler left Vince McMahon’s company in 2016 and began making waves in AEW. While the promotion that made his father a legend didn’t see his potential, Tony Khan did. They pushed Rhodes forward as the star of their business, and he developed far past the level he reached in the WWE.
His ability in the ring and indeed on the mic drastically improved. He picked up two world titles, headlined PPVs and left the WWE Universe begging for his return. And on 2 April, he finally gave them what they wanted.
The 36-year-old made his triumphant comeback at Wrestlemania 38, and collided with Seth Rollins in front of a packed out AT&T Stadium.
The pair of sporting icons battled it out in front of a passionate Texas crowd, as well as the millions of people watching around the world. They traded fearsome blows before Rhodes somehow kicked out of a brutal pedigree. Eventually, the returnee landed three vicious crossrhodes to put his opponent away.
Since his victory on the grandest stage of them all, the 36-year-old has begun making waves on Raw. He’s announced his intention of winning the world title, beat Kevin Owens in a dark match, and dismantled The Miz.
The roster has completely changed since his last run in the world’s premier wrestling promotion. There are so many new faces to work with and exciting possibilities. But out of the massive array of superstars he wished to meet, one stood out.
Read: WWE Raw crowd got treated to a Cody Rhodes dark match after the broadcast went off the air.
Cody Rhodes reveals the WWE superstar he was the most excited to meet
Similarly to the landscape of most sports, if you stop watching for a year or two, the talent at the highest level will have completely changed. Therefore, Rhodes was coming back into the WWE virtually blind. But regardless, there was still one individual he couldn’t wait to meet.
In an interview with Wrestling Inc, he revealed: “I tell you, the person I was most excited to meet was Bianca Belair. I was most excited to meet her, and I got to meet her when she had just come from tearing the joint down, and I was underneath the stage so I could hear it all. You’re always happy when you can hear a hot crowd, and they had set up such a brilliant crowd and put us in a difficult position to follow.
“I thought she was just a total queen when I met her, and to be able to be one of the first people to say congratulations, even though I’m brand new on the team, that was very nice, and I’m a big fan having watched her last year what she did with Sasha [Banks]. Big fan.”
In the Mania match prior to his, Belair produced the greatest performance of her career to relieve Becky Lynch of her WWE Raw Women’s Championship. The top-class athlete is slowly becoming one of the biggest names in the company, and who knows, perhaps we’ll see her and Rhodes in a tag team one day.
Featured Image Credit: Joel Zietcer