Every Version Of Cody Rhodes, Ranked Worst To Best

There have been many masters of reinvention over the years in professional wrestling, and Cody Rhodes is no doubt one of them. Throughout his career and across several promotions like WWE, AEW, ROH, and NJPW, there have been different versions of Cody Rhodes that fans have witnessed.

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Not all of these versions have been a hit, and when looking at ranking his versions from worst to best, some really stand out as stinkers. There have, however, been some truly brilliant gimmicks, with Rhodes showing a wonderful ability to portray completely different characters and make it work. Which one is the best though?

11 Rookie Babyface At The Start Of Cody Rhodes' WWE Run

Cody Rhodes Debuted As A Basic Babyface

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
10 Months	WWE World Tag Team Championship	Turning On Hardcore Holly

By far the worst version of Cody Rhodes was the very first. Rhodes wasn’t necessarily bad here, but there was just absolutely no depth and nothing to this.

Rhodes was the rookie sidekick of Hardcore Holly in the tag team division. They got very little attention, not much mic time, and were about as basic as you can be as an act. It wasn’t terrible, but it had so little to give it any sort of argument to be anywhere other than bottom of this list.

10 Moustached Heel In Team Rhodes Scholars

Cody Rhodes Was Partners With Damien Sandow

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
10 Months	N/A	Breakup Of Team Rhodes Scholars

This is along the same lines of his rookie babyface act. Cody Rhodes in the Rhodes Scholars was fine, but his character has such little depth to it beyond just being a typical cocky heel.

Rhodes and Damien Sandow were a good act with decent chemistry, but WWE never fully explored their potential, and this is another reason as to why this is ranked so far down in terms of versions of Rhodes.

9 Pandering Tweener Mess In AEW

Cody Rhodes’ AEW Career Went Downhill

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
11 Months	AEW TNT Championship	Five-Star Ladder Match With Sammy Guevara

Cody Rhodes’ AEW career went off the rails when fans saw right through the “pandering American hero” gimmick that just wasn’t working. This led to Rhodes walking the line of being heel, with many “wink, winks” and breaking kayfabe when it came to him refusing a clear heel turn.

It was certainly interesting, but the execution ultimately felt super awkward and the whole thing was off. It led to months of strange promos, uncertain crowds, and a clearly unhappy Rhodes.

8 Stardust Was The Final Nail In Cody Rhodes' First WWE Run

Cody Rhodes Put His All Into Stardust

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
2 Years	WWE Tag Team Championship	Feuding With Stephen Amell

There is no denying that Cody Rhodes made “Stardust” entertaining. His promos were quirky, his mannerisms were unique, and even though he got very little attention in terms of booking, Rhodes did all he could to try and make Stardust a success.

Unfortunately, for the same reasons Goldust never escaped the midcard, Stardust remained there too. The gimmick was too wacky, too silly, and booked too poorly to ever make it in WWE as a successful character. Rhodes may have been good with Stardust, but when weighing up positives and negatives, Stardust is on the poor side of things.

7 Bleached Hair ROH World Champion

Cody Received The Iconic Rhodes Haircut

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
2 Years	ROH World & Six-Man Championships	Becoming World Champion For The First Time

A little while into his time away from WWE, Rhodes reinvented himself. He aligned with Brandi Rhodes, bleached his hair, and developed more of an attitude, such as when he low-blowed his way to the ROH World Championship.

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It was certainly baby steps but it showed that Rhodes was developing more of a personality and truly finding his feet as a solo star, proving himself able to be a world champion of a company.

6 Anti-Authority Babyface Had Potential For Greatness In WWE

Cody Rhodes Showed Signs Of Stardom In WWE

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
10 Months	WWE Tag Team Championship	Winning Back Jobs For The Rhodes Family

Cody Rhodes’ 2013 babyface turn saw fans naturally rally behind him, and he showcased a clear ability to drum up support and cut impassioned promos. This saw him defy authority figures and enter a feud with The Shield.

Rhodes had never been more over in his first WWE run than this, but his momentum was short-lived and WWE fumbled the booking, with Rhodes just becoming an average face. It was a mixed bag with a strong start but poor finish.

5 “Dashing” Cody Rhodes Was A Strong Midcard Act In WWE

Cody Rhodes’ First Singles Gimmick

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
7 Months	WWE Tag Team Championship	Rey Mysterio Breaking His Face

After breaking away from Legacy, Cody Rhodes entered the singles division as “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. On paper, it was a pretty generic heel gimmick, but Rhodes was just a natural in this role, oozing charisma and attitude.

The huge grin, the heel work, and the promos were all great, and it proved to be a very entertaining midcard gimmick.

4 Cody Rhodes Became A Bullet Club Member In NJPW

Cody Was A Good Heel In NJPW

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
2 Years	IWGP United States Championship	Facing Kota Ibushi At Wrestle Kingdom

Cody Rhodes joined the Bullet Club, and whilst he initially didn’t feel like someone who fit the group, his heel persona made for some great matches and moments such as against Kazuchika Okada, for example.

Rhodes and The Elite members would eventually become babyface, showcasing a lot of fun in their personalities. Rhodes had so much to give in terms of comedy, and mixing this with some of the Bullet Club attitude made for a good version of Rhodes.

3 Legacy Member Mentored By Randy Orton

Cody Rhodes And Ted DiBiase Joined Randy Orton’s Group

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
1 Year & 5 Months	WWE World Tag Team Championship	Royal Rumble Final Four

Cody Rhodes was brought into Randy Orton’s Legacy faction in 2008, and whilst he worked mostly as a lackey and punching bag, his heel work was very strong.

Over their time together, Rhodes and DiBiase both developed personalities and added depth to their characters, which was shown a lot in their feud with D-Generation X. The Legacy act ran the heel side on RAW during this period, and were very entertaining.

2 “Undashing” Cody Rhodes Is An All-Time Great Intercontinental Champion

Cody Rhodes Became Unhinged

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
10 Months	WWE Intercontinental Championship	Unveiling The Classic IC Title

Better than “Dashing” Cody Rhodes was “Undashing” Cody Rhodes - a sadistic, slow-speaking, and damaged character who had his beautiful face broken. He handed paper masks to the ugly crowd, wore a face mask, and delivered fantastic promos.

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This is Rhodes’ best heel version and in truth, it is a truly underrated part of Rhodes career. He was a brilliant Intercontinental Champion during this time too.

1 WWE’s Top Babyface Ever Since His Return

Cody Rhodes Was Revitalised After WWE Return

Length Of Gimmick	Notable Accomplishments	Best Moment
1 Year & 8 Months (And Counting)	Royal Rumble	Hell In A Cell With A Torn Pec

Rhodes at the start of AEW portrayed this gimmick and it was great, but it fully came into life in WWE. Rhodes is the ultimate good guy, fighting for his family, wrestling in the memory of his father, and being a straight up good guy who fights through adversity, injury, and more.

The fans love it, and it is no doubt the very best version of Rhodes ever.

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