Wrestling Inc. WrestleMania Night 1: Cody Rhodes Debuts, Steve Austin
Cody Rhodes Signs With WWE
Cody Rhodes has signed a multi-year contract with WWE.
Night One of WrestleMania 38 saw Rhodes make his return to WWE after being away for 6 years. The storyline behind the return is that Rhodes was hand-picked by WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon to be Seth Rollins’ opponent. After a hard-fought back & forth bout, Rhodes got the win clean. You can click here for our original report with photos and videos from the match, and you can click here for Cody’s new Variety interview where he discusses returning to WWE and leaving AEW.
In an update, Rhodes’ team issued a press release after his WrestleMania return and confirmed that he is signed to a new multi-year deal with WWE. Cody’s team consists of the Hyperion Talent Agency, the Spanos Law firm, and the Vision PR firm.
The press release also revealed that Rhodes is serving as the Executive Producer to A&E’s “Biography: WWE Legends” documentary on his father, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes. The doc was mentioned in the earlier Variety interview, but the release from Rhodes’ team has confirmed that he will be the Executive Producer.
The release also included the following blurb on Rhodes’ return and career. It’s interesting to note that there is no direct mention of AEW, but they do acknowledge that he is a three-time TNT Champion. The return press release was not issued by WWE, but it’s possible they had a chance to approve it before it went out. Rhodes’ team issued the following:
The most sought-after free agent in professional wrestling, “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, has landed back at WWE, the company where he began his career. Saturday night, in front of a massive crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Rhodes returned in a main event match with multi-time former WWE Champion Seth Rollins. Rhodes has inked a multi-year deal with the company.
Rhodes began his wrestling career with WWE developmental territory OVW and went on to compete with WWE for a decade before his departure in 2016. Over the past six years, Rhodes has wrestled all over the world including in Japan, England, Mexico, and Canada. In 2018, Rhodes was named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated. During his first run with WWE, Rhodes became a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and won six tag team championships (three World Tag Team Championships and three WWE Tag Team Championships). During his time away from WWE, Rhodes won many top championships including the Ring of Honor World Champion, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion, ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion, and most recently the TNT Championship on three separate occasions. His father, the legendary “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, is a WWE Hall of Famer and both Cody and Dusty won NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship titles making them the first father/son combination to win the title.
Stay tuned for more on Rhodes’ return to WWE.
Steve Austin Wrestles First Match In 19 Years
WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin has wrestled what appears to be his final wrestling match, 19 years after officially retiring from the ring.
WrestleMania 38 Night One closed with Austin driving his ATM out for The KO Show with Kevin Owens to continue Owens’ recent anti-Texas storyline. After a few minutes of the talk show segment, Owens said he really invited Austin to WrestleMania to challenge him to a match, a No Holds Barred match. Austin commented on how he had his first match in Dallas, and can now have his last match in Dallas. Stone Cold called for a referee and the match began.
Austin dominated most of the match, which was a typical No Holds Barred or Street Fight bout with lots of brawling and very little moves and holds, if any. Austin did take a few suplexes, kicks, punches, a Stunner, and more. The match went through the crowd, around the ringside area, up the ramp to the stage via riding on Austin’s ATV, and ended in the ring with a Stone Cold Stunner as Austin got the win. The match also saw Austin enjoy a few beers while beating Owens around.
After the match, Austin held a lengthy beer bash celebration. He dropped Owens with another Stunner at one point, then kicked him out of the ring where two Texas Troopers were waiting to escort him to the back. Austin, who went through more than a case of beers in the post-match celebration, tossed a beer to his brother at one point. His brother, who was sitting behind the announcers, then briefly joined Austin in the ring for a toast. Austin later called Byron Saxton into the ring for a toast and Saxton was nervous based on beer bash Stunner he took on the 3:16 Day RAW in 2020. Austin shared a beer with Saxton but dropped him with the Stunner.
The beer bash went on for several minutes before WrestleMania Saturday went off the air with Stone Cold celebrating to the cheers of a packed crowd inside AT&T Stadium.
“Rick Boogs Injured In The WrestleMania 38 Opener (Photo Credit: WWE) https://t.co/bj0KOL6bkr”