Paid Members BomberPat Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 An awful lot of how Cody is booked is built more around establishing Cody as a cross-media star; it's about what will best promote his reality shows, make for interesting copy in magazine spreads, and basically make him a more mainstream celeb. I think in that regard, keeping him separate from the other main event guys is probably by design, so that neither impacts too much on the success of what they're trying to do with the other - don't undermine Omega as champion or Hangman as challenger by having them play second fiddle to Cody, but don't dim Cody's shine by having him take losses to those guys either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 3 minutes ago, BomberPat said: An awful lot of how Cody is booked is built more around establishing Cody as a cross-media star; it's about what will best promote his reality shows, make for interesting copy in magazine spreads, and basically make him a more mainstream celeb. I think in that regard, keeping him separate from the other main event guys is probably by design, so that neither impacts too much on the success of what they're trying to do with the other - don't undermine Omega as champion or Hangman as challenger by having them play second fiddle to Cody, but don't dim Cody's shine by having him take losses to those guys either. That in itself is fine, but I would argue that Cody's shine is already dimming thanks to the direction he's taken this year. You still want to have him involved in matches/feuds that people want to see, and I don't see anyone clamouring over another QT/Cody match. AEW has actually, on the whole, done a brilliant job at keeping top stars apart, without ever devaluing the big names. Moxley's title run is a great example of that, but they've done well with Jericho, Omega and The Bucks too. Cody seems to exist in his own little bubble right now, which is separate from the rest of the AEW roster and there's no obvious interesting end game. Frankly, I'm terrified that what they're eventually planning to do is have him be the one to earn a pinfall win over Miro, rather than someone like Jungle Boy or Wardlow. There's scope to make Cody interesting again - they can turn him heel, remove the World title stip somehow, or both - but right now he's a real low point on an otherwise excellent wrestling show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 1 minute ago, RedRooster said: That in itself is fine, but I would argue that Cody's shine is already dimming thanks to the direction he's taken this year. You still want to have him involved in matches/feuds that people want to see, and I don't see anyone clamouring over another QT/Cody match. AEW has actually, on the whole, done a brilliant job at keeping top stars apart, without ever devaluing the big names. Moxley's title run is a great example of that, but they've done well with Jericho, Omega and The Bucks too. Cody seems to exist in his own little bubble right now, which is separate from the rest of the AEW roster and there's no obvious interesting end game. Frankly, I'm terrified that what they're eventually planning to do is have him be the one to earn a pinfall win over Miro, rather than someone like Jungle Boy or Wardlow. There's scope to make Cody interesting again - they can turn him heel, remove the World title stip somehow, or both - but right now he's a real low point on an otherwise excellent wrestling show. I don't disagree with any of this - in essence, most of the top guys have been equally self-contained; Omega hasn't really interacted with Jericho for a long time, Jericho hasn't done much outside of the Inner Circle/Pinnacle angle for a long time, and so on, but it's more noticeable with Cody because the need to make him a mainstream figure just draws more attention to it all. When at least once a month seems to have a "Cody Rhodes to make a major announcement" segment on Dynamite, it's a lot more obvious that he's in his own universe. I don't think it's evidence of heat so much as it's down to what happens when you have top guys all booking their own shit. I'm honestly amazed that we haven't had Cody team with Sting yet. When he debuted, I figured it was a month tops before we saw Cody in Surfer Sting facepaint.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 3 minutes ago, RedRooster said: That in itself is fine, but I would argue that Cody's shine is already dimming thanks to the direction he's taken this year. That depends how you judge a star. I see Cody getting bashed on here. I read some criticism from wrestling journos. I see some mixed reviews on social media, though that's impossible to judge because it seems to be split into WWE and AEW "teams". Personally, I was never a big fan but objectively would accept he was very good for most of that first year of AEW. The wider fanbase, particularly those who buy tickets seem to love the guy. He's more mainstream than anyone else on the roster. Those things make a star, not internet dorks like us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 24 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: The wider fanbase, particularly those who buy tickets seem to love the guy. He's more mainstream than anyone else on the roster. Those things make a star, not internet dorks like us. I'm not sure how we can know that when shows have had barely or no fans at them for the past year. The crowd reaction at Double or Nothing was nothing special and noticeably quieter than the pops Hangman, Jungle Boy, Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy got. The next few weeks will be interesting to see where he really stands with the wider fanbase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 2 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: I'm not sure how we can know that when shows have had barely or no fans at them for the past year. The crowd reaction at Double or Nothing was nothing special and noticeably quieter than the pops Hangman, Jungle Boy, Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy got. The next few weeks will be interesting to see where he really stands with the wider fanbase. Maybe we'll see but he's never not got a good reaction during appearances or matches whenever they've had full or part crowds. Regardless of opinion on here, it's never been remotely reflected in his reactions live. Not like the reactions to poor babyfaces we're used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 While I'd love to see this on an AEW show, Onita showing Kenny how to really make a ring go boom I'm not sure I'd want Mick making it about himself. Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Cody, I think, objectively was the best babyface when AEW started. His storylines were fantastic, even dating back to the "Road to" packages building up the Dustin match. His feud with Jericho was brilliant, the MJF storyline was superb (who could forget the whipping angle, or the match with Wardlow?) His brief feud with Brodie Lee was also decent, although Cody's actual run as TNT Champion was a bit of a mixed bag for m. Cody had always shown glimpses of his worst tendencies though, and in 2021 he's leaned into them far more. I'd speculate (which is all I can do, obviously) that he's one wrong decision away from getting booed - for example, if he were to be booked to be the person to defeat Miro, I don't think that would be well received. 1 hour ago, tiger_rick said: Maybe we'll see but he's never not got a good reaction during appearances or matches whenever they've had full or part crowds. Regardless of opinion on here, it's never been remotely reflected in his reactions live. Not like the reactions to poor babyfaces we're used to. That's partly true - he's still managed to have a few PPV matches which have absolutely sucked the air out of the room - the Ogogo match had close to zero reaction, and the crowd was also fairly quiet for his matches with Spears and MJF, largely, I assume, because they didn't deliver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 2 minutes ago, RedRooster said: That's partly true - he's still managed to have a few PPV matches which have absolutely sucked the air out of the room - the Ogogo match had close to zero reaction, and the crowd was also fairly quiet for his matches with Spears and MJF, largely, I assume, because they didn't deliver. No matter how good the build up, it always ends in a Cody match and a Cody match is usually fairly dull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 The Ogogo match for me was evidence that the base had started to turn on him - even with a big all-American patriotic packaging on Memorial Day weekend, the crowd were probably more dead for that match than any other he's had, and at some points were audibly chanting for Ogogo. That's not a good sign for them going back on the road but, again, that's not necessarily the metric they're judging Cody's successes by. He did just have a cover story in People magazine, after all. As @LaGoosh said, the problem often comes down to the in-ring. People used to call him "Mr 3 1/2 Stars" for a reason - he's consistent, but reliably bang average, and needs a strong opponent and/or a good story to drag him above that. Cody's usually pretty good at the build, but can't stick the landing. One of my big criticisms of him has been that almost all of his stories seem to be a "one and done", there's no longevity, so there's rarely any stakes - the build to the MJF match was huge, but now you'd be forgiven for forgetting that it ever happened, when people seemed convinced that was going to be a long-running, potentially generational rivalry. Similarly, Shawn Spears was one loss to Cody and then falling into obscurity. He feuded with Brian Cage, beat him, moved on. It feels like he's still booking Cody Rhodes as a touring act who goes into other people's promotions and wrestles their guy, then is gone by the next show, rather than someone who still has to exist on the same show as all the people he's beating. I still stand by saying that the Ogogo match was just a complete failure to tell any of the stories they set up with that match, and some of the worst booking I've seen in a long time in terms of maximising potential. It's funny you mention the build-up to the Dustin match, because that's one of the few times I think Cody got things the other way around - I thought his storytelling leading up to the match was really, really misguided; he tried to sell it as this idea of him "putting down the last of the Attitude Era", which I don't think is a story anyone else saw in that match, or wanted to see told. There was so much more potentially there on the table - both are Dusty's kid, but Cody is the one who actually got to grow up with that because Dusty wasn't on the road all the time, and Cody is the one getting to carry on Dusty's legacy, and how does Dustin feel about that? How about for Cody, having grown up going to school with everyone knowing Goldust was his brother? And getting into the business, having Dusty and Dustin's shadows over him, the whole Stardust gimmick keeping him in Goldust's shadow, Dustin being old and wise enough to teach him how to deal with that pressure but Cody being too stubborn to recognise it....there were countless dynamics in there unique to the interpersonal relationship between those two, and Cody chose to ignore them for a concept he could have used in a match against Hardcore Holly or D'Lo Brown, it didn't even matter that it was his brother. But then the match was fucking brilliant, and the aftermath did play off their relationship in a really satisfying way. Until, again, it lead to one match against the Young Bucks and then that was done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 10 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: No matter how good the build up, it always ends in a Cody match and a Cody match is usually fairly dull. Though he had the best match in company history with his brother, so it's not quite so cut and dried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Yeah I feel like I defend Cody when I'm not exactly massively arsed about him. I'd say post his loss to Darby that he's been absolutely all over the place. The Team Taz stuff, then there was real life roadblocks for the Shaq match. The angle with QT started grand with the Bruno/Zbyszko cribbing, but then they had him beat him at Blood and Guts just clean. Odd. I don't think MJF has been forgotten, he got sidetracked with Archer then the next time he came up, Jade Cargill interrupted. But yeah, no idea what's actually happened with him. What was that spot in the Revolution Ladder Match about where he was injured but in camera frame the entire time. Just bad production? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Blog Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 2 hours ago, BomberPat said: Cody in Surfer Sting facepaint That would have been brilliant as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Ultimately from a personal perspective Cody is frustrating because I know he's capable of being the best babyface they've got. It's less annoying when someone's shit all the time and you just don't care about them at all, but I know Cody is capable of so much better than what he's been involved in recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 2, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted July 2, 2021 2 hours ago, gmoney said: Though he had the best match in company history with his brother, so it's not quite so cut and dried. Hence why I said usually. Also doesn't hurt when your brother is as unbelievably fucking great as The Natural. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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