Cody Rhodes Wins ESPN ESPY Award, Teases Big WWE Return, Brandi Reacts, More

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PWMania.com Staff
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The ESPN ESPY Award for Best WWE Moment of the Year has been given to Cody Rhodes.

Rhodes won the award for his WrestleMania 38 victory over Seth Rollins as the surprise mystery opponent, which marked his return to the WWE.

Rhodes and his wife Brandi Rhodes attended the ESPY Awards, which were broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, on ABC Wednesday night. The happy couple made an appearance on the red carpet, and Cody later gave the NBA player Klay Thompson the award for Best Comeback Athlete. As Rhodes took the stage to accept the Best Comeback Athlete award, the WWE Moment award was announced.

We mentioned a few weeks ago how the 16 nominees for the Best WWE Moment were revealed. The fans narrowed down that list to just 4 moments. The Undertaker’s WWE Hall of Fame induction, Big E winning the WWE Title by cashing in Money In the Bank, and WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin shocking Pat McAfee, Theory, and WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 38 were all edged out by Rhodes’ return.

As seen in the video down below, Rhodes was approached by a WWE cameraman on the red carpet and questioned about the win. Looking into the future, he declared that he may have another significant event planned for next year.

“It’s very stirring,” Rhodes said of the win. “I was excited to be nominated and it was a significant moment for me, it was the best decision that I’ve ever made in my wrestling career, coming back, but I’m nominated with guys like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and John Cena, so to be the one who’s taking home the WWE Moment of the Year, feels good. You know, let’s have a little bit of that ‘New Blood’, I’m still ‘Angry Cody’ from 2015.

“So to be able to show up and be like, ‘No, they voted for me!’ – it definitely is not something I take for granted and if anything it’s kind of positioned me to where I’m looking for 2023. I have just enjoyed this red carpet enough that I need to be back, so you gotta find another moment and I think I know what that moment could be in terms of getting back here again.”

After receiving the award, Rhodes also shared a video message on Instagram in which he expanded on the probable 2023 moment he referenced. Rhodes praised WWE, ESPN, and most importantly the WWE Universe and pro wrestling fans who voted for him, as seen in the video below. Rhodes said perception can be reality in today’s world of smoke and mirrors, but reality can also be reality at times. It meant a lot to Rhodes to be at the ceremony and to earn the WWE Moment of the Year award. Rhodes went on to say that he hasn’t even been back with WWE for a year because, up until recently, he had been the Executive Vice President and co-founder of another promotion (AEW), but as soon as that situation changed, he began talks with WWE. Cody remembered how everyone kept calling WWE “home” for him, and he wanted to see if the actions supported those words. At WrestleMania, Cody learned for sure that the words and the deeds were consistent. It’s a blessing, according to Rhodes, but even more so are the fans’ open arms and hearts. He went on to say that, as beautiful and wonderful the ESPY award is, it is not the chip he returned to WWE for, referring to the Undisputed WWE Universal Title. Rhodes expressed the expectation that he would return ahead of schedule and that he was searching for the potential Best WWE Moment of 2023. He concluded by thanking the women in his life—his mother, sister, wife, and daughter—for helping him win the ESPY award.

Brandi tweeted on the award and congratulated her husband, writing, “Congrats @CodyRhodes on winning the ESPY for @WWE Moment of the Year!!! [partying face emoji] from undesirable to un-freaking-deniable. You are an inspiration to us all!”

As a winner of an ESPY WWE award, Rhodes now stands alongside Sasha Banks and RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. Reigns won in 2019 for making a comeback following his leukaemia battle, while Banks and Belair triumphed in 2021 for becoming the first black women to host WrestleMania.

After completely tearing his right pectoral muscle on the Friday before the WWE Hell In a Cell event, Rhodes has been sidelined from competition since mid-June. Rhodes still worked the Hell In a Cell match with Rollins and won despite the injury and the horrifying bruise on his upper body. Later that week, Rhodes underwent surgery in Birmingham, Alabama, and has since been healing. Despite WWE’s announcement that Rhodes will be out for nine months, sources close to Rhodes claim that he will return sooner. According to a report, Rhodes anticipates returning to action before the nine-month mark, which may lead to a significant Royal Rumble return in January. Though it’s too early to book any creative ideas for Rhodes’ comeback, it was recently reported that there was discussion of making Rhodes’ comeback a massive thing for the company and building him up similarly to how they did with WWE Hall of Famer Triple H in 2001/2002.

Earlier this week, Rhodes revealed during an appearance on Busted Open Radio that doctors are not providing him with a schedule for a ring comeback because they don’t want him to push things too far in an effort to return sooner. He said, “They’re not going to give me a timeline just yet for when I’m going to be back because they’re afraid if they give me that timeline, I’m going to try and jump it by a month or two.”

Since his comeback at WrestleMania 38, WWE has been working on a documentary on him. He said that after the injury, the documentary “changed greatly.”

Titus O’Neil, a WWE Global Ambassador, was also present on the ESPYS red carpet. Below are images and a video from the awards presentation.

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