Cody Rhodes knows his wrestling career isn’t going to last forever, and he’s already thinking about when it’ll be time to walk away. In fact, Cody believes “Cody fatigue” has already started setting in with some fans, and he doesn’t want to stick around long enough to completely overstay his welcome.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Cody was reminded of his old claim that he planned to retire at 40. That obviously didn’t happen, and Cody couldn’t help but laugh at himself for making the prediction in the first place.
“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”
Cody jokingly admitted that his old retirement promise didn’t exactly hold up. With his 40th birthday already behind him, he called it another one of his old “Cody lies.”
“Told you an old Cody lie, huh? Old 40, huh? And here I am.”
When Van Vliet asked whether he has another retirement age in mind, Cody revealed something much more interesting about his WWE future. He considers the contract he recently signed to be his final one, although it’s apparently going to keep him around for quite a while.
“I just think the — I just signed my last contract. I say last contract — that’s gonna go for a while. And if I’m able to do what I’ve been able to do, because I would love this year not to be just one movie, but perhaps two movies.”
Cody then gave a surprisingly direct estimate for how much longer he could remain with WWE. Rather than dancing around the question, he put the timeframe at roughly another six or seven years.
“With all that said, my time with WWE could go — I mean, just to give you a real answer here and not politic around you — probably, probably seven. Seven years.”
After Van Vliet asked whether he really meant seven more years, the American Nightmare confirmed that six or seven is where his head is currently at. He stopped short of calling it a definitive retirement date, though.
“Six, seven. Yeah. I didn’t mean it like that, but yeah. You know, that’s the kids’ thing, right? To have Carmelo Hayes explain to me what that was and I still didn’t get it. Yeah, six, seven years, I’d say.”
The bigger issue for Cody isn’t hitting one specific age. He simply doesn’t want to reach a point where fans are ready for him to leave and he’s still hanging around.
“And I don’t want to say that in a final, like a final sense. I just know that I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
One thing Cody does seem pretty certain about is wrestling into his 50s. While he made it clear there’s nothing wrong with other wrestlers doing it, that’s not how he sees his own career playing out.
“Well, I definitely don’t want to wrestle into my 50s. No shame to anyone who wrestles in their 50s.”
Cody’s reasoning goes deeper than simply worrying about his age or what his body can handle. After everything wrestling has given him, he believes there eventually comes a point when a wrestler has to recognize they’ve taken enough from the business.
“I have shed so much of my skin for the industry, but I have also been given so, so, so much. I think there’s a point where you have to stop taking. I’m not there, but there’s a point.”
Cody believes that moment probably falls somewhere inside the six-to-seven-year window he’s imagining now. He’s not ready to leave yet, but he already understands that he doesn’t want to keep taking opportunities forever.
“And I think that’s in that timeframe — a point where you just have to stop taking.”
It’s especially striking for Cody when he looks at how dramatically his career has changed. He remembered his first conversation with Van Vliet coming at a time when he was still a WWE midcard wrestler who felt like there was a very obvious ceiling above him.
“It’s given me everything. I am talking to you today — the first time I talked to you, I was a midcard talent at WWE, and no shame to anything in the midcard. Midcard’s beautiful.”
Now Cody’s career has taken him far beyond anything he could have imagined back then. He pointed to getting the opportunity to play Guile from Street Fighter as one example of just how surreal things have become.
“And I’m talking to you today as someone who got to play Guile from Street Fighter, created by Capcom — a game that I played growing up as a little kid. Look at it. That’s me.”
Even with all that success, Cody is very aware that fans can eventually get tired of seeing the same person on top. He jokingly suggested that some of that fatigue surrounding him might already be here.
“Hopefully more. Hopefully a lot more. But I’ve been so lucky so far and so blessed so far that I think wrestling — I mean, Cody fatigue is already pretty set in.”
That’s why Cody doesn’t seem interested in squeezing every possible year out of his wrestling career. He’s hoping there are still plenty of big moments ahead, but he also believes there’s a natural limit to how far anyone should push their run.
“But I think you can only go so far, and you’re only supposed to go so far.”
Cody isn’t announcing a retirement date just yet, but he’s clearly thinking about how he wants this part of his career to end. After spending years fighting to break through that old ceiling, his concern now isn’t getting more time at the top — it’s knowing when he’s had enough and making sure he leaves before the fans decide it for him.
What do you think about Cody Rhodes admitting “Cody fatigue” has already set in and saying he doesn’t want to overstay his welcome? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
