Dylan jackson
On May 28, 2016, six days after WWE confirmed it was granting Cody Rhodes’ release, Rhodes posted a photo of a checklist on Twitter and sent minds racing among wrestling fans. The checklist was a list of goals Rhodes had upon leaving WWE and hitting the then-hot world of independent wrestling. The journey that followed not only elevated Rhodes to his current status as one of wrestling’s biggest stars – he will headline his second consecutive WrestleMania next weekend – but changed the entire wrestling landscape.
Rhodes requested his departure from WWE in 2016 as he became increasingly frustrated with his direction in the company. He went from a prominent midcard player to the Stardust character, which unintentionally became something of a joke. Instead of fulfilling a contract that paid him well, Rhodes chose to go out into the wild and prove that he was as good as he believed himself to be.
In the Peacock documentary “American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes,” Rhodes discussed one of the experiences that cemented the realization that things wouldn’t get better if he stayed in WWE.
“I was ready to tell the story of how I became Cody Rhodes again and it wasn’t even on their radar,” Rhodes said of a period after the death of his father, the late Dusty Rhodes. “This is the end of the Stardust chapter. I’m thinking there will be something else. This is the same company that created me. They will definitely have something new for me to dive into. What now? And now what was a lot of nothing.
“I remember writing so many emails, like ‘Reboot me.’ At one point, I went to talk to one of the writers and they ignored me. They actually avoided his hand and were typing on his laptop. I leaned over and looked and the laptop was off.
Rhodes wasn’t halfway through when he was released. In 2017, his first full year after leaving WWE, Rhodes wrestled 119 matches, just 29 more than he had wrestled for WWE and its notoriously difficult travel schedule in 2015.
Rhodes was traveling the world, wrestling in Japan’s Tokyo Dome and the halls of the Knights Of Columbus in Ontario while proving that he was a draw and a workhorse who had been mistreated by WWE during his first stint with the company. Rhodes was a star and if WWE didn’t see that, he would force them to open their eyes.
Rhodes’ time in the indies reached a crescendo with All In. After wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer responded to a reader that Ring of Honor, one of Rhodes’ main independent wrestling houses, could not sell 10,000 tickets to a event “so soon”, Rhodes accepted the challenge.
Rhodes worked with The Young Bucks to set up All In, which was associated with ROH but also partially self-financed by the wrestlers. The event was scheduled for September 1, 2018 in the Chicago suburbs and was packed with many of the biggest names not signed to WWE.
Organizing the event was a big risk that also brought the possibility of embarrassment for everyone involved if the tickets were not moved.
“We were trying to get on the website to buy tickets and I thought, ‘If the website is frozen, we’re screwed’ or ‘Is it exploding? Dale Download” with Dale Earnhardt Jr. “He fell right away. There were 11,236 in 28 minutes. I said, ‘We need this,’ welcoming the letter from the Indies. I like to think big. Everything was in front of us and we had to execute and make it happen.
The success of All In which also attracted around 50,000 pay-per-view buys proved that great shows could exist outside of WWE and laid the groundwork for the creation of All Elite Wrestling which was founded by Tony Khan and included Rhodes and The Young Bucks (as well as wrestler Kenny Omega) as executive vice presidents.
AEW grew with Rhodes as one of the centerpieces of pay-per-views and, eventually, weekly cable television shows. Although AEW has not reached the heights of WWE, it has emerged as a major second American wrestling promotion, with five hours of weekly television and several annual pay-per-view events.
When Rhodes’ AEW contract expired, unfinished business in WWE – both for him and his late father – led him back home.
Rhodes did a lot in just a few years, taking control of his career and proving he was a big enough star to change the entire wrestling landscape. Now it was time to prove he could be that superstar on the biggest stage.
Coming home
Rhodes’ return as Seth Rollins’ mystery opponent at WrestleMania 38 saw the crowd respond in a way that matched what Rhodes had accomplished in his time away. But there were many who didn’t believe Rhodes would continue to be viewed in the same light once the freshness of his return wore off.
“I had so many people when I came back, like, ‘Hey, they’re going to boo you in two months. Oh, they’re going to boo you in a year.'” Rhodes told ESPN. “I have the privilege but also the burden of playing alone. This is a true story. My dad, I wanted him to be WWF champion.
“I still have that title. And the fact that he didn’t get it and I felt like he deserved it. And in his absence, after he passed away, you hear a lot about him now. It’s that little piece that bothers me, that’s really end the story.”
“Finish the story” has been Rhodes’ mantra since his return to WWE. His father had a legendary career, but the WWE Championship eluded him. Rhodes is trying to finish his own story of leaving WWE and returning to become champion, but it’s also the story of his family, a wrestling dynasty whose accomplishments have carried the asterisk that no one will ever be the biggest guy in the business after the WWF. decimated wrestling. territorial system in the 1980s.
Rhodes’ momentum has not slowed since returning to WWE, even as an injury threatened a major setback.
As Rhodes was in the midst of a feud with Rollins, he was lifting weights in the gym when his pectoral muscle – initially torn during a segment on WWE Raw – broke loose from the bone. Rhodes went ahead with his Hell in a Cell match with Rollins, wrestling with the right side of his chest and much of his right arm a deep shade of purple.
Rhodes won the match, which received rave reviews from fans and members of the media, before being sidelined following surgery to repair the torn muscle. But Rhodes, by winning the match – and delivering one of the greatest matches in modern WWE history – further cemented himself as WWE’s top babyface star.
Rhodes returned at the 2023 Royal Rumble, winning the match and punching his ticket to a match with undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 39.
Everything fell into place for Rhodes to finish the story. He was the hottest babyface on the planet and had a perfect rival in the dastardly Reigns – always flanked by “The Bloodline”, a collection of his family members from another wrestling dynasty, the Anoa’i family – who were riding the wave of a historic championship.
Except it wasn’t meant to be.
Rhodes lost the match, tricked by The Bloodline, as almost always happened during Reigns’ more than 1,300 days as world champion. Fan reaction was mostly a mix of shock and anger. They were traveling with Rhodes and felt the timing was perfect for him to have his moment.
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke to the media after WrestleMania 39, addressing Reigns’ decision to retain the championship.
“For many people, this was a shocking result,” Levesque said. “What I will say about that is that it’s always interesting to me when people say, ‘How could this happen?’ or ‘How could they do that at that time?’ It’s almost perfectly explained in this story. ‘I need to finish the story.’ In WWE the story never ends. Tomorrow night on Raw, the tickets are sold out, the Crypto Arena continues, the story takes another chapter, we just reached the end of another chapter, but the story continues and that’s where it gets interesting for me. That’s the amazing thing about this business, the story never ends.”
Levesque’s words did not calm the fans’ criticism, but they were left in the same position as Rhodes, with nothing to do but move on and hope that the eventual reward was worth the wait.
That payoff could come on Sunday when Rhodes rematches Reigns on Night 2 of WrestleMania 40, although the match was almost sidelined after Rhodes won his second consecutive Royal Rumble last January.
Many factors led to a near-change for Reigns vs. The Rock instead of Rhodes.
CM Punk, who returned to WWE at the 2023 Survivor Series after a contentious split from AEW and was likely ready for a big match with World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, suffered a torn triceps muscle at the Royal Rumble , taking it out of plans for the immediate future. This came just days after Vince McMahon was forced to resign from WWE following another round of sexual assault allegations and investigations reported by federal authorities.
At the same time, The Rock returned to WWE, joining the TKO board of directors amid revived interest in a long-running showdown with Reigns, his cousin.
Despite immediately taking aim at Reigns after winning the Rumble, Rhodes suddenly seemed to change tack and conceded to The Rock on an episode of SmackDown.
Once again, fans rebelled against the idea of taking away Rhodes’ moment. #WeWantCody was trending on X for days as The Rock, one of the biggest stars in wrestling history, was booed at WWE events. It was too much to ignore and WWE went back to the original plan, having The Rock turn heel and join forces with Reigns.
Rhodes, who previously couldn’t get the attention of a single WWE writer, became such a big star that an entire team of writers had to pivot plans for one of the biggest shows in WWE history to get him back into the spotlight. main event. First, though, Rhodes will team with Rollins to face The Rock and Reigns in a tag match on Night 1 of the event, with the result determining the rules for Rhodes vs.
While Levesque may be right that the story never ends in WWE, Rhodes’ story of going from a WWE afterthought to an undeniable champion must reach its conclusion on Sunday night.
