"It needed to be him" - Cody Rhodes on why he chose to face Seth Rollins on his WWE return

WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes has explained why he had to face Seth Rollins and no one else on his return to the company.

Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins had a number of matches during the former's first run in WWE, primarily in tag team action. In his return match at WrestleMania, Rhodes won the match after landing a Bionic Elbow followed by a Cross Rhodes on The Visionary.

The Ringer Wrestling Show interviewed Cody Rhodes right after his match with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38. During the interview, he spoke of the long history he has with Rollins, which was why he chose to face him.

"[Could have been] Nobody else. Seth walked into the ring in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in his first live event loop ever coming off of Florida Championship Wrestling and it was against me. Dayton, Ohio, [at] the Nutter Center, his first dark match on television and it was against me. The Shield vs. The Rhodes, which I blocked those matches out of my head and then realized, 'Man, these were special and something,' and it was him then. It needed to be him," said Rhodes. [11:03 - 11:35]

Rhodes continued:

"And this isn't a knock on Seth [Rollins], I heard so much about 'Dusty's kids' at NXT to the point where [phew], 'What about his real kids? What about his actual kids?' And again slow learner, maybe it took me a little while but to be able to walk out there and earn his respect as he earned mine once, and this is a different man now. This guy has been to the top of the mountain. It couldn't have been anyone else," said Rhodes. [11:35 - 12:00]

The American Nightmare said he liked everything about the match against Rollins, including the moves he 'messed up' at WrestleMania 38.

---

Cody Rhodes will be on WWE RAW after WrestleMania 38

In the same interview, the WWE Superstar confirmed that he will be on the red brand after The Show of Shows, where he will explain a lot of things.

"I'll be there [on RAW] and I want to make my intentions clear. Just my intent. You said the words 'All In,' sure, and multi-year contract, great investment, and I'm investing in them as well. But I want people to know what it is," said Rhodes.

The last singles match that Cody had on RAW came in 2016 when he faced Apollo Crews and lost. He was portraying the Stardust gimmick back then.

---

Please credit The Ringer Wrestling Show and give a H/T to Sportskeeda if you use any of the above quotes.

---

You can check out the results from Night One of WrestleMania 38 here.