News broke of Cody Rhodes’ torn pectoral muscle injury before his Hell In A Cell match, so when the WWE confirmed he was still participating in his high-profile bout against Seth Rollins, some questioned if the injury was faked as part of a storyline. Suffice to say that any Peacock Premium subscribers who had doubts changed their tunes quickly upon seeing the nasty and discolored bruising from Rhodes’ swollen pec, as well as the plainly apparent pain he endured during what is already being viewed as one of his most iconic matches. As incredible a feat of athleticism as it was, Rhodes is obviously still injured following the pay-per-view (perhaps even more so), and now we have a clue about what's reportedly happening next for the superstar on the road to recovery.
Cody Rhodes may have toughed out his injury during the latest WWE pay-per-view, but it appears he’s in for quite a bit of off-time outside the ring as he recovers from a torn pec. According to Fightful Select's report on the injury, Rhodes is reportedly set to undergo surgery on his pectoral muscle on Thursday. The athlete is said to be making some sort of announcement at Monday Night Raw, which will provide more insight on what that means for him and the WWE in the coming months.
The recovery time following surgery on a torn pectoral muscle can be quite a lengthy one, and Cody Rhodes isn’t the only notable WWE wrestler to undergo such a procedure. Triple H once missed five months of wrestling with a similar injury years ago, as did Elias (currently wrestling under the name Ezekiel). John Cena actually managed to return after only four months of rehabbing, but the bottom line is that it’ll likely take at least four months, but probably more, before Rhodes is ready to step back into a wrestling ring for a marquee-worthy contest.
The big question now is what the WWE will do with him until then, and whether he'll still be able to make television appearances, or if the best route would be for Rhodes to take some time away off-camera. In the hypothetical scenario that his recovery takes five months, Cody Rhodes could recover off-screen and return by Survivor Series. That’s a major PPV event worthy of one of the WWE’s hottest stars to make a highly publicized return, but again that’s on an ideal timetable.
Another option for Rhodes to make a big return would be Royal Rumble 2023, which would be a couple of months after Survivor Series. The winner of the Rumble is typically given their choice of a title shot, which would presumably present the golden opportunity to pay off Rhodes’ return with a major title shot at WrestleMania.
That avenue of speculation assumes that the WWE keep Cody Rhodes off of television throughout his entire recovery from surgery, which isn’t a guarantee. Roman Reigns’ limited summer schedule, paired with wrestlers taking time off and disputes with other superstars, definitely limits the star power that'll be available to the organization in the immediate future. I think there’s at least a chance Rhodes will be given a role outside of the ring that allows him to keep up TV appearances, provided that’s something he’d want to do. We’ll ultimately just have to wait and see and hope this injury doesn’t push Cody off his current trajectory as one of the WWE’s most popular superstars.
Monday Night Raw airs on USA on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Hopefully, the coming episode will provide more updates on what’s going on with Cody Rhodes and any further details on his injury.
