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Cody Rhodes Talks Return from Surgery; Latest WWE Rumors on Triple H and Bray Wyatt

Mike Chiari

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Cody Rhodes Discusses Injury Recovery Plan

Cody Rhodes suggested this week that the nine-month timetable WWE provided for his return from a torn pectoral muscle may not be accurate.

In a post on his Instagram story (h/t WrestlingInc's Robert Gunier), Rhodes wrote: "I've heard 9 months, that's their plan… I've never concerned myself with other people's projections—I've got a plan of my own—let's finish, all of us."

Before Cody's match against Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell earlier this month, WWE announced he had torn his pec completely off the bone.

Despite that, The American Nightmare insisted on wrestling through the injury, leading to one of the gutsiest, most iconic performances in WWE history.

With one side of Rhodes' chest and his upper arm deeply bruised, he fought through it and defeated Rollins in a classic Hell in a Cell match.

Cody was written off television the next night on Raw when Rollins attacked him from behind with a sledgehammer.

WWE announced afterward that Rhodes would be out for nine months after undergoing surgery, putting him on track to be back in time for WrestleMania 39 next year.

Most observers seem to believe that Rhodes will come back quickly enough to be in the 2023 men's Royal Rumble match in January, however.

The Rumble seems like the ideal place for a Cody return since his winning it would be a feel-good moment that the fans would enjoy, and Rhodes' comments suggest he may be targeting exactly that.

Triple H Reportedly Has 'More Power' After NXT Return

WWE Hall of Famer Triple H is reportedly back in a position of power with NXT, and he may have even more power than he did previously.

John Pollock of Post Wrestling tweeted Wednesday that Triple H was at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and told people there that "he's back."

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Michael Perry of Ringside News) followed up with a report stating that The Game told people at the Performance Center that "things are happening, and he can’t talk about them right now, but he’s back."

Meltzer added that while he doesn't know if that means Triple H is the head of NXT once again, he "does seem to have more power now."

Triple H was essentially the founder of the NXT that wrestling fans came to love, but when he stepped back from his WWE duties in September because of a cardiac event, a significant change occurred.

NXT became known as NXT 2.0, and rather than heavily featuring veterans with independent wrestling backgrounds, it highlighted younger, less experienced talent.

While NXT 2.0 has been much different than its predecessor, it has undoubtedly been successful at building new stars such as Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Tony D'Angelo, Cora Jade and others.

Triple H's longtime best friend and fellow WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has been one of the heads of NXT in Triple H's absence, and it remains to be seen if Triple H will unseat him now that he is back.

Although Triple H has reportedly been back working for WWE on a full-time basis for at least the past couple of months after his health scare, there had been no talk of his having involvement with NXT.

That is clearly changing, which raises the question of whether NXT will go back to the way it was before Triple H's absence or perhaps be some type of hybrid between NXT and NXT 2.0.

WWE Reportedly Pushed for Wyatt's Removal from WWE 2K22

Following his surprising release last year, WWE reportedly didn't want Bray Wyatt included in the WWE 2K22 video game.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of ThirstyForNews.com), WWE "specifically wanted Bray Wyatt removed from the game."

Wyatt was released from WWE on July 31, 2021, about seven months before WWE 2K22 hit shelves.

The time frame likely means that Wyatt was included in the game initially and had to be scrubbed from it in order for him to not be a playable character when it was released.

That wouldn't normally be uncommon since WWE typically avoids including Superstars who are no longer with the company in its video games, but since WWE cut ties with so many wrestlers leading up to WWE 2K22's release, many of the people who WWE let go were still in the game.

Wyatt wasn't among them, though, and it was apparently a concerted effort on WWE's part.

While the definitive reason for WWE wanting Wyatt out of WWE 2K22 is unclear, it does perhaps suggest some bad blood between the parties regarding how their relationship dissolved.

Wyatt has not signed nor wrestled elsewhere since his WWE release almost one year ago, and while there has been speculation among fans about him potentially returning to WWE at some point, the WWE 2K22 story doesn't bode well for the chances of that happening.

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