WWE superstar talks destiny in new documentary 'American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes'

Seated in his chair with a dark brick background behind him, the blonde-haired Cody Rhodes hesitated, taking a second to think. It had been a long journey to this exact moment.

The son of legendary WWE wrestler Dusty Rhodes, Cody felt overlooked and unused through 10 years at the WWE. He had a strong run as part of “The Legacy” and held the intercontinental championship for eight months during 2012. That success didn’t last.

By 2016, he left the WWE, sharing his decision publicly on social media and starting a six-year journey away from the company. He worked his way through the independent circuit and various promotions before starting his own – AEW – in 2018, which made him one of the hottest wrestlers.

He returned to the WWE in 2022. Earlier this year, he headlined WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles.

But did he ever think he’d be back?

“It’s so easy now for me to look at it and think, oh, this was obvious, yeah clearly,” Rhodes told USA Today Sports. “But, no. I really didn’t.”

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Rhodes’ story and the pressure of following his father’s footsteps are all told in Peacock’s new documentary, “American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes.” Here’s everything you need to know about the documentary from how to watch to what went into Rhodes’ return to the WWE.

“It's covered a lot of ground and it's this really fun opportunity to get all our fans to know, oh, here it is,” Rhodes said. “It's not, oh, I heard a little something about this. No, here's the full story. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful.”

When is 'American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes' coming out?

The 120-minute documentary will be released July 31. It is directed by Matt Braine and executively produced by Vincent K. McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Chris Kaiser, Chris Chambers, Ben Houser and Cody Rhodes. 

How can I watch 'American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes?'

The documentary is exclusively available on the streaming service Peacock. Plans start at $5.99 per month or $60.00 for one year.

The process behind making 'American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes'

Rhodes and the crew started working together when Rhodes made his WWE return at WrestleMania last year.

Initially, the team thought they’d follow Rhodes from pay-per-view to pay-per-view, but Rhodes completely tore his pectoral muscle last June then proceeded to wrestle in a match with the tear. That road to recovery added a different realm to the documentary.

“It gave a very painful bit of spice to the documentary, but it gave it a different layer than you'll normally see,” Rhodes said.

Leaving the WWE and following in his dad’s footsteps

So much of Cody Rhodes story can’t be told without the mention of his father, Dusty Rhodes, who’s considered one of the greatest of all time in professional wrestling. Dusty Rhodes passed away in 2015, and much of the documentary touches on Cody Rhodes' journey following those footsteps.

Rhodes said as a kid, he thought he “wouldn't just be Dusty's son,” and that over time people would forget and move on.

“Oddly, [my father's] career just got more emboldened and emboldened with what he did behind the scenes in helping frame up the next era of superstars at NXT. And watching it, it's dawned on me that I'm so glad I was wrong,” Cody Rhodes said. “I'm so glad that, if anything, it's gotten bigger and it's only inspired me to do bigger things.”

Those bigger things couldn’t have happened without a huge leap in 2016.

After years of what he called being “overlooked,” Rhodes decided he wanted to leave the WWE. He wanted to “mobilize” the audience, asking them to not stop watching the WWE, but to ride with him and see if he was right.

By making that decision publicly, Rhodes acknowledged he added more pressure to himself.

“That was the pressure that I needed,” he said. “Well, you said you were overlooked here. Let's see.”

Dusty Rhodes famously never held the WWE championship, something that still bothers Cody Rhodes today. Much of his return to the WWE is to win the championship belt his father never did. It’s that sort of vindication he’s looking to capture.

The documentary follows Cody Rhodes’ entire journey, and by including his relationship with his father, Rhodes said he hopes it shows why he wants the championship so bad.

“I feel like I'm not this story of destiny type," Rhodes said. "But when I say that, it's, 'No. I'm maybe the most obvious story of destiny type.' But it's still one thing remains, and that one thing is really covered in the documentary and what it means to me, not just from an entertainment perspective, but the real good stuff in what we do.”

How a conversation with Vince McMahon brought Rhodes back

When Rhodes sat down with WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon in 2022, he went in looking for closure. After leaving the company, Rhodes often thought in the back of his mind how so many of the relationships he built through the years didn’t have a proper ending.

Instead, the two talked about being girl dads. McMahon shared wisdom and advice about having a daughter. Only the final seconds of the conversation were businesslike, McMahon offering Rhodes a return to the WWE.

“I thought it would be closure in that conversation. Of course, that's not what I got,” recalled Rhodes laughing. “The last 30 seconds was appealing enough in terms of what he wanted to do.”

He made his WWE return at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas as the surprise opponent for Seth Rollins. And Rhodes quickly made it clear – he’s back to reclaim the title his father never won.

That chance was there at WrestleMania 39, but Roman Reigns defeated him in controversial fashion. Rhodes hasn’t had a shot since and, with a matchup Saturday against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, he said he really doesn’t know when he’ll make another push for the title.

It’s the second meeting between Rhodes and Lesnar, with Rhodes winning at Backlash in May. Beating someone like Lesnar twice puts you in a position where a title shot is the next thing on your mind, Rhodes said.

But it’s easier said than done. Despite their personal feud, Rhodes had high praise for his current rival.

“I think time as it moves on will recognize and realize how dang special Brock Lesnar is in a ring,” he said. “How special, how almost underplayed it is, the level of expertise that he has in this world.”

No matter what happens against Lesnar, Rhodes knows his destiny. The documentary put everything in perspective for him. Rhodes said he realized his long journey was meant to be this way. All the hard times made sense.

The end goal for him is still the same. It’s just clearer now.

“Getting back to WWE, I realized, you can't run from it,” Rhodes said. “And maybe the destiny's the thing that you can't run from, but in my case, it was that specific, ‘Hey, this is what you got into the industry to do. Try and do it. Try and do it. Fall on your face, maybe, get up and try again. But try and do it.'”

'American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes' streams July 31 and WWE SummerSlam streams Aug. 5, only on Peacock.