Cody Rhodes says he wants to bring back the iconic Winged Eagle WWE Championship belt if he can defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania Goes Hollywood.

The American Nightmare won the Royal Rumble this past weekend to punch his ticket to the main event of WWE’s biggest show of the year. Earlier this week, he posted a photo of the winged eagle on Instagram, which set off a frenzy of excitement on social media.

During a Wednesday appearance on WWE’s The Bump digital series, Rhodes spoke about why the Winged Eagle is so important to him.

“Through my youth, the WWE I was watching, was really synonymous with the Winged Eagle. I think there’s a lot of people who love the Winged Eagle design, some people like the Big Eagle, but the Winged Eagle was the one for me. Today’s design with the giant W is also incredibly special because it’s this walking billboard for the promotion."

If anybody can get the Winged Eagle brought back, it’s Cody Rhodes. He was the man responsible for reviving the since-retired Intercontinental championship belt design held by legends including Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect and The Mountie.

“It was just a pipe dream. I posted that, I don’t want people to think I’m calling a shot, I don’t want people to think I’m going into business for myself. The reality is, I was able to change the Intercontinental Championship once before, which seemed before.

So, if I’m able to get to the finish line, the biggest WrestleMania of all time, SoFi, in Hollywood, if I’m able to get to the finish line and get my hands on these things that like I said, have eluded my family up until now, maybe it’s just a pipe dream, a glimmer, but it would be fun to just say lets just boil ‘em down and bring back the winged eagle.”


Rhodes knows his comments are going to get a lot of people buzzing. He made sure to clarify that he’s just sharing how he feels about this particular subject. However, that’s how he got WWE to bring back the classic IC title, so there is some cause for optimism.

“Listen, this is me just talking. I feel like I’m going to leave and get a bazillion texts like, ‘No, no!” All the titles, it’s the equity within them that makes them special. But just from a design standpoint, I have a lot of love and reverence for that one. It’s just a little pipe dream.

I had the same pipe dream for the Intercontinental title and I was lucky enough to make that come to fruition. So, follow along, because this is where the fun begins.”


Watch Cody Rhodes’ comments about wanting to bring back the Winged Eagle WWE Championship belt on The Bump: