Cody Rhodes' request to Vince McMahon during WWE return talks

Cody Rhodes made his long-awaited return to WWE at AT&T Stadium at WrestleMania 38 night one on Saturday night.

At the show, Rhodes returned to WWE, with his full AEW presentation, to go one-on-one with Seth Rollins.

Many fans suspected that Rhodes told WWE that he would have to be presented in the same way he was when he was with AEW, if he was to return to the company.

However, in a new interview with BT Sport, Cody has debunked those rumours, but revealed the one request he did to Vince McMahon make during negotiations.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Rhodes explained that he had no “guarantees” from WWE and McMahon about how he’d be presented, but did ask that he’d never be Stardust again.

Cody also explained that he didn’t even want Stardust to be referenced, which made him using his old character’s signature taunt early on during his match even more ironic.

“There wasn’t any true guarantees but there was a request. I never want to see Stardust ever again!”

For those who don’t know, Stardust was Cody Rhodes’ take on his brother’s Goldust character. With Rhodes using the gimmick between 2014 and 2016.

Cody didn’t exactly like the character, and reportedly asked to become his ‘Cody Rhodes’ again in 2015 and 2016, with WWE’s refusal being one of the reasons he asked to leave six years ago.

Cody Rhodes seems to be very much him during his WWE run, and the company has gone above and beyond to make the 36-year-old feel like a huge deal.

Rhodes is set to be on Monday Night Raw tonight, cutting a promo for the first time since making his sensational return on Saturday night.

You can watch tonight’s post-WrestleMania episode of WWE Raw live in the US on the USA Network and in the UK on BT Sport.