Hell in a Cell: Cody Rhodes Takes Center Stage in Seth Rollins Match Amid Serious Injury

Cody Rhodes battled Seth “Freakin” Rollins in the main event of Hell in the Cell on Sunday night. However, the WWE Superstar wrestled while batting a serious injury. Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer (per WrestlingNews.com) reported that Rhodes suffered an injury while lifting weights. WWE then announced that Rhodes suffered the injury, a partially torn right pectoral tendon, on Monday night during his brawl with Rollins, and the tendon tore completely off the bone while weight training. 

Rhodes was scheduled to face Rollins on Saturday night but was replaced by Drew McIntyre. He did compete in Hell in Cell and ended up beating Rollins in a strong match. According to Fightful Select, Rhodes is scheduled to undergo surgery this Thursday. Wrestling Inc. mentioned that Rhodes could miss from three to five months of action. When Hell in a Cell went off the air, Rhodes spoke to the fans about his injury. 

“I’m sure I’m gonna explain things a little further tomorrow, I’ll be very brief. No one convinced me, with a torn pec, to come out here. It was solely my decision. You would have to literally kill me from staying away from this ring. Ten times out of ten, I would have made the same decision,” Rhodes said, per Wrestling Inc.  

In April, Rhodes returned to WWE after spending time on the independent scene and helping launch All Elite Wrestling. He originally competed in WWE from 2006 to 2016 and won multiple championships. When he returned in April, Rhodes, 36, battled Rollins at WrestleMania 38 and came away with a win. 

“It’s a completely different individual returning to the game,” Rhodes told Variety in April. “It’s a different brand. It’s someone who’s experienced all the wonders of independent wrestling, of traveling internationally, of being able to get on the ground with the fans that make this whole ship move. But different person or not, I’m still that little kid that I mentioned in an AEW promo that wants what my dad didn’t get, and I’m not going to say it out loud because I don’t want to jinx it. But, you know, he went to Madison Square Garden, stood across from Superstar Billy Graham and he held it in his hands, the goal of mine, and it was taken away because that was the context of the match.”