An Honest Look Back At Cody Rhodes' First Run In WWE

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Cody Rhodes made his triumphant return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 to much fanfare. To many, it looked like he went out and made himself a star after having been booked so poorly in WWE during his first run. But was he really that poorly booked? Outside a few obviously bad booking choices, his first run in WWE was actually pretty good.

Cody Rhodes Intercontinental Champion 2nd Reign Cropped

Cody Rhodes’ WWE Beginnings

Cody made his Raw debut in a segment with his father Dusty Rhodes and Randy Orton, with Cody’s debut match happening against Orton, in a losing effort. For months, Cody would go through various lower card feuds on Raw with the likes of Daivari and Hass & Benjamin, before winning his first Championship in WWE, the World Tag Team Championship with Hardcore Holly. This was Cody’s first major storyline as Cody would later turn on Holly and join with a debuting Ted Dibiase.

This was the beginning of the infamous faction, The Legacy. Along with Randy Orton, WWE’s top heel of the time, Cody and The Legacy would be the main focus of Raw for nearly 2 years. In The Legacy, Cody would help Randy Orton in all of his WWE Championship feuds, gaining much exposure at the top of the card. In a team with Ted Dibiase, Cody would be a mainstay in the tag division winning the titles as well as having a top-tier feud with DX, which culminated in a Hell in a Cell match on PPV. The Legacy faction ended in a main event level Triple Treat Match between Orton, Dibiase & Rhodes at Wrestlemania 26. Cody would lose that match but would spin off into what Cody himself considers some of the best work of his career.

Dashing & Undashing Runs

Cody was drafted to Smackdown after Wrestlemania and would begin a new narcissistic gimmick, “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. Cody would air vignettes of male grooming tips, he would constantly check himself out in the mirror, and would be very protective of his face. During a feud with Rey Mysterio, Cody’s (beautiful) face was hit by Mysterio’s exposed knee brace, breaking Cody’s nose.

Following the broken nose, Cody needed facial reconstructive surgery and now considered himself hideous. This led to Cody becoming a much darker character, his music became a warped psycho version, he wore a clear protective mask, to hide his ugliness, and would hand paper bags to audience members and his opponents as their ugliness and imperfections offended him. The transition from Dashing to Undashing was a phenomenal storyline and it really seemed like Cody was being groomed to be Smackdown’s top heel star and would soon ascend to the main event.

After a long Intercontinental Championship reign, Cody Rhodes was a favorite to win the 2013 Money in the Bank Ladder Match. That match however was won by his short-lived tag team partner Damien Sandow and Cody would turn face for the first time in his WWE career and feud with Sandow. As a face, Cody would speak out against The Authority and would get unduly fired as a result. This would begin a feud between the Rhodes family and the Authority’s henchmen, The Shield. The feud with The Shield was hugely popular and led to some incredible matches, with Cody and Goldust becoming one of the most popular babyfaces in WWE. Cody and Goldust would go on to have a popular run as Tag Team Champions before Cody’s infamously changed gimmick.

Let's Talk About Stardust

Upon a small losing streak as a tag team, Goldust started to look for a new tag partner. Fans were shocked when that partner eventually ended up being… Stardust. Cody Rhodes came out dressed in a Goldust style jumpsuit and face paint with a star design. The character was not popular with fans or with Cody Rhodes himself. The gimmick was obviously a lower midcard comedy act and everybody knew that Cody Rhodes deserved better. Stardust hung around for nearly two years and by the end, Stardust was exactly what everybody predicted, a lower card comedy jobber. On May 21, 2016, Cody revealed he had requested his release from WWE, Rhodes spoke about his frustration with creative and with his position on the card. Cody revealed he had been “pleading” with writers for over 6 months to end the Stardust gimmick and was constantly pitching ideas for ways to end it.

The Stardust gimmick was obviously terrible, however, it does overshadow the good storylines Cody did have in WWE. His feuds in The Legacy, his storylines as Dashing/Undashing, and the feud with the Shield were all top-tier stuff and should not be forgotten just because Stardust ended the way it did.