Rhodes’ uncanny ability to connect with the audience makes sense. The son of the late “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and brother of Goldust (Dustin Rhodes), the artist currently billed as Stardust has the genetic makeup needed to be successful in the wrestling business.
Chris Jericho mentioned on a recent episode of Talk is Jericho that being able to talk is the “crux of the wrestling business.” Connecting with the audience is a large part of that and there’s several different ways a wrestler can do that. It can come through talking, being a standout athlete in the ring, having the little nuances that differentiate one guy from the next, a unique look, or in very rare cases, a combination of all of these skills and qualities.
Rhodes is that combination.
It’s what led him to being able to hold down a significant midcard position for so many years, while giving the fans a few memorable moments to remember him by. His WrestleMania 27 encounter with Rey Mysterio was a match of the night candidate. When Rhodes first debuted, he was seemingly looked at as an afterthought.
Inserting him right in the middle of a feud between Randy Orton and his father, Dusty, was an excellent way to unveil him to the audience. He got the rub from both his father (which few wrestlers can say) and Orton—who was in the middle of a metamorphosis that ended with him becoming the top heel in the company.
But after the angle with his father subsided, Rhodes faded into the background. He tagged with Hardcore Holly briefly before turning heel and aligning with Ted DiBiase Jr. The tag team known as “Priceless” would eventually align with Orton and form the Legacy, but even then it seemed as though everyone looked at DiBiase as the breakout star of the duo.
DiBiase Jr. always kind of resembled a young Orton in terms of build, look, and natural ability—albeit to a slightly lesser extent. Rhodes, on the other hand, didn’t really look like a wrestler. He looked like a guy you might find in the office cubicle. He may have been the son of Dusty Rhodes, but at the time, he didn’t really display any visible similarities. He was skinny (which was exacerbated by his lack of knee pads), had a basic look, limited moveset, and we hadn’t really gotten to see what he was capable of on the microphone.
He appeared like a younger version of Dusty in the face and had glimpses of his father’s lisp. But that was it.
One would have to believe Cody Rhodes took notice to this notion. When it came time for the Legacy to break up, Rhodes followed up the angle brilliantly and began to wrestle with a chip on his shoulder. He moved to SmackDown and became “Dashing” Cody Rhodes, which was somewhat of a throwback character to the likes of a Rick Rude or Adrian Adonis.
Many would presume a gimmick as simple as that one to do be doomed for failure, yet Rhodes found a way to make it work. It led to him forming a partnership with Drew McIntyre, which at the time could have been considered a legitimate rub due to how aggressively McIntyre himself was being pushed.
It wasn’t until January 2011 that Rhodes really found his niche as “Undashing” Cody Rhodes. The story goes that Mysterio legitimately broke Rhodes’ nose—much like how Seth Rollins recently broke John Cena’s nose with a high knee strike. Rhodes was forced to get repositioned, but WWE sold it to the fans as “facial reconstruction.”
Rhodes began to don a clear, plastic protective mask to legitimately protect his nose, which was tender at the time from further injury. Rhodes turned the injury into a unique gimmick where he wore the mask to hide his “deformities and imperfections.” His promo cadence also changed with this gimmick. Instead of talking in a tone that was standard for the arrogant heel wrestler in 2011, Rhodes’ voice was full of shame, disgust, and pity for both himself, his opponents, and the fans.
He began to resemble Dr. Doom, and while many wrestlers have worn masks in the past (see Kane, Rey Mysterio, etc.), nobody had worn one like the one Rhodes wore.
A feud with Mysterio made all the sense in the world leading into WrestleMania 27. While that WrestleMania is largely considered one of the worst in recent memory, it was not due to the match Mysterio and Rhodes put on. Mysterio’s innovation combined with Rhodes’ charisma made for a compelling midcard clash.
Rhodes emerged from the look of an inexperienced, chicken legged, afterthought lackey to Randy Orton. He evolved into a compelling heel and legitimate future world champion.
After WrestleMania 27, Rhodes brought DiBiase Jr. to SmackDown to become his new lackey. The opinion on who the “Jannetty” of the Legacy tag team was had begun to sway in the direction of DiBiase Jr., while Rhodes continued to shine as a hideous, yet incredibly self-righteous heel.
With Rhodes and DiBiase back together and the Intercontinental Championship around Rhodes’ waist, it was only right for WWE to push the duo into a feud with former mentor Randy Orton, who had recently turned face.
Alas, the “Undashing” gimmick eventually ran its course, though one could argue the gimmick’s shelf life was expedited by poor booking choices. Out of the gimmick developed Team Rhodes Scholars, which in theory was a great idea. After all, when you have the opportunity to put two exceptional talents, Rhodes and Damien Sandow, in a tag team together with a clever name, why not take advantage of that?
Unfortunately, Sandow and the mustachioed Rhodes were never able to get the momentum they needed to become a tag team that mattered. One could argue that their soul purpose was to serve as a vehicle to get Team Hell No over, which they succeeded at given the result of the main event at WrestleMania 28.
But Rhodes was meant for so much more. He’d shown that he had the “It” factor before, and he would soon show it again when Sandow turned on him, thus turning him face for the first time since his initial debut.
He would make the most of this opportunity, becoming a regular act on Raw with his half brother Goldust. Together, the Brotherhood worked in direct opposition to the Authority. Along with Daniel Bryan, it could be argued that Rhodes and Goldust were the most significant anti-authority characters within the first year of the “Authority angle,” and can be directly credited with making the heel faction matter enough to the point that it still exists to this day.
Of course, Rhodes underwent a gimmick change, became Stardust, briefly feuded with Goldust, and the rest is history.
But within Rhodes’ excellent WWE career there lies a Missed 3:16 moment that, if truly taken advantage of, could have turned Rhodes into a main-event player that would have been world champion by now.
On the September 3, 2013 episode of Raw, Rhodes officially became a target of the Authority for speaking out against them. As simple of a moment as this was, it had basic similarities to the Austin-McMahon angle. Am I suggesting WWE should have copied this blueprint to make Cody Rhodes a main eventer? No. But it did represent a real opportunity for Rhodes to break out in his own special way.
All-in-all, the Rhodes brothers vs Authority angle was very well booked. It involved Dusty Rhodes getting involved in what was a prolonged conflict with a distinct payoff. It also gave Goldust a chance to show that he “still has it.”
So if the angle was as well booked as it was, Rhodes break out?
Rhodes and Goldust segued from the angle by joining the Tag Team division, which at the time wasn’t half bad with the Shield and Wyatt Family both making their presence felt. However, if WWE was serious about turning Rhodes into a main-event player, Goldust should have taken a backseat to him. Either that, or a Rhodes-Goldust feud should have happened much earlier.
As good as the Tag Team division may have been back in 2013, it has notoriously become a wasteland for wrestlers who are looking to break out. mostly because of WWE Creative’s inability to follow up a break-up with proper, meaningful booking. So upon joining the division with his brother, Rhodes found himself stuck with little wiggle room.
The partnership with Goldust did eventually spawn an angle that saw Rhodes take on the Stardust persona, but it did not provide people with what they necessarily wanted.
Has Rhodes continued to work as a singles wrestler following the reinstatement of both he and Goldust, he could have maintained a loose partnership with his brother while also becoming the 1A to Daniel Bryan in his crusade against the Authority. This might have been what Rhodes really needed, as it would have created a series of meaningful promo spots against the Authority. Since the premise behind rebellious wrestling angles is so relatable to the fans, Rhodes could have really caught fire.
Then when the time was right, Rhodes could turn on Bryan and take on the Seth Rollins role in the group. That’s not to say Rollins hasn’t been great in his current role–he has. It’s just that there would have been multiple opportunities for Rollins to break out at that point in his career. For Rhodes, his big moment needed to happen somewhere in the midst of the Authority’s first year on television.
If not then, it should have happened when he had reached peak overness as a heel: when he was the villainous, self-deprecating “Undashing” one.
But that didn’t happen either.
Genetics and great mentorship provided Cody Rhodes with all the tools to become a pro wrestling success story. It was his love for the business, however, that enabled his natural gifts to come out for everybody to see.
Historically, most wrestlers that have been pushed to the main event don’t get their big break until after age 30. In spite of having eight years of main roster experience, Rhodes himself is only 30 years old, so it’s very possible that his best days are ahead of him. Whether he gets the big break he is long overdue for remains to be seen. At worst, he will continue to entertain the fans with irreverent gimmicks, natural charisma, and in-ring skills that are constantly improving.
Would that be the end of the world? Not a chance.
Nonetheless, Rhodes will be one guy to watch in the coming years, if for no other reason than to see what direction his character is heading in. If history has shown anything, his positioning on the card can change at a minute’s notice, and if he does get the chance to prove he can be a top guy, suffice to say you won’t find many fans disappointed.
Jack Goodwillie
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