10 Times Wrestlers Bet On Themselves (... And WON!)

10. Cody Rhodes (2022)

So fast-developing was professional wrestling in 2022 that a major AEW name and company Executive Vice President defecting to WWE wasn't a top-five story of the year.

Confirmed early on in the year by Fightful Select to be working without a contract, Cody Rhodes worked what ultimately transpired to be his final AEW outing on the 26 January Beach Break special of Dynamite, dropping the TNT title back to Sammy Guevara in a thrilling Ladder match, one of the stipulation's greatest modern executions.

The ensuing two-ish months were an exciting time. Rhodes formally departed AEW on 15 February, with a joint statement being published by himself and AEW big cheese Tony Khan confirming as such in a move that couldn't ever be predicted. He very much was on his way back to WWE, a situation made all the more obvious when Seth Rollins was without a WrestleMania 38 opponent, but until he physically returned, it wasn't quite tangible that Cody Rhodes - this revolutionist who defined anti-WWE between 2016 and 2021 - was on his way back.

Going full-blown 'American Nightmare' in his return, Rhodes worked a show-stealer with Rollins, a further two at WrestleMania Backlash and Hell in a Cell, and has now won the Royal Rumble match, inching one step closer to turning the American Dream into a reality.