The many sins of Cody Rhodes

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Carbomb said:

It's his confidence on the mike and his turn of phrase that makes it work rather than the content, but it's bloody good. If nothing else it makes him look like a star.

It's not though, it's really bad. It says nothing, and likes it. He looks high, and the fans are chanting "royal rumble" at him.

It shows you what a positive a good editor can be.

[TheScarlettChad]

That AEW promo was fucking bizarre at the time, until you realize, it was his goodbye speech. But he's a robot, so it came off really strange.

[Chili]

2 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

That AEW promo was fucking bizarre at the time, until you realize, it was his goodbye speech. But he's a robot, so it came off really strange.

Yeah but robots malfunction and need maintenance and this would have been a time that a bit of oil was needed. The worst aspect of Cody's old promos (no idea if he still did it) was the occasions that he'd speak in stupid riddles. That promo felt like he was reading out a question on 3-2-1 or something. Still somehow better than that promo where he ended racism.

[Carbomb]

5 hours ago, Duke said:

It's not though, it's really bad. It says nothing, and likes it. He looks high, and the fans are chanting "royal rumble" at him.

It shows you what a positive a good editor can be.

Like I say, as regards content, it's very poor, but I just felt it had an energy and delivery to it that gave me a sense of him as a main-event performer. Best analogy I can come up with is it felt to me like a small number of Michelin star-quality snacks, served at a table full of people ravening for a proper meal.

[Kamran]

I wasn't sure where to put this, from VICE:

Quote

Cody Rhodes Cites “Disrespect” Led to AEW Departure

Cody Rhodes is once again opening up about his time in All Elite Wrestling. The former TNT Champion, who helped create AEW with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, claims there’s “clearly bad blood.” Rhodes departed AEW in 2022 after losing the TNT Championship. While his contract had an option year, Tony Khan chose not to pick it up and they parted ways. Rhodes reappeared in WWE shortly after.

“There is clearly bad blood, but there’s also clearly respect and love,” Rhodes told The Bill Simmons Podcast. “And in the end, the way I kind of see it is, if I felt disrespected ever at WWE, that’s one thing. That’s a company that was built … that’s the Yankees, that’s the flagship of it all. If I ever felt there, you know, I was a number on a sheet, maybe.

But feeling disrespected at something I built with my friends, that we built. Feeling disrespected there, I wouldn’t stand for it. And I think Brandi and I both — I’m so blessed to have her. It was one of those where it was, ‘F—k it, I did way more here than you think, and you’re going to find out the moment I’m out the door.’

I don’t believe in like the cold-hearted, backstabby type way of revenge. The greatest revenge on earth is success, and I felt like we were sitting on something wonderful, something great, a huge, potentially with what I was doing with the American Nightmare, as a bad guy, as a good guy, something in between, we’re sitting on something magic. And if I’m not going to do it in the house that I literally with Matt, Nick, and Kenny built, then buddy, I’m going elsewhere.”

After losing the Undisputed WWE Championship to John Cena, Rhodes took a hiatus from WWE. Upon returning, he teamed with Jey Uso against Cena and Logan Paul at Money in the Bank — a match the babyfaces won. He also competed in the King of the Ring, earning him a title opportunity at WWE SummerSlam.

I'd be interested to know what was behind the disrespect he felt, I know at the time, TK said something along the lines of contract negotiations failed as he didn't think Cody wanted to stay. I'm guessing the fans turning on him didn't help but I do think his goal was always to return to WWE. From what I understand, he was involved in most of his own booking, and it was his own decision to add the stipulation of not going after the World title. 

With the recent talk of a possible heel run in WWE, I would have loved it if he turned in AEW, I think that could have led to something really special.

[HarmonicGenerator]

17 minutes ago, Kamran said:

what I was doing with the American Nightmare, as a bad guy, as a good guy, something in between, we’re sitting on something magic

This is the bit that stands out to me. He might have thought it was magic but it wasn't working - especially the "something in between" that he seemed insistent on trying to make work in AEW. It's probably not coincidence that his best moments there - post bloodbath with Dustin, the whipping angle with MJF, the Dog Collar match with Brodie Lee - were him as a pure babyface, which is exactly what he's been in WWE since he came back. Full-blown heel could have been something to try, him and Arn Anderson shooting down goodies with Arn's gun from that one vignette, but it never felt like he wanted to go there. The 'no world title shots' thing probably hamstrung him too, but of course if they'd wanted to get out of that they could have. Heel Cody vs Hangman for the AEW title could have been something special.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, Kamran said:

I'd be interested to know what was behind the disrespect he felt, I know at the time, TK said something along the lines of contract negotiations failed as he didn't think Cody wanted to stay. I'm guessing the fans turning on him didn't help but I do think his goal was always to return to WWE. From what I understand, he was involved in most of his own booking, and it was his own decision to add the stipulation of not going after the World title. 

I think it’s probably as simple as Tony Khan purposely offering Cody only a mildly improved contract from his existing deal, in the hope that he’d turn it down, allowing Khan to say he wouldn’t stand in his way if he wanted to see what he can get elsewhere.

Cody started strong, but the Cody-verse dragged him - and AEW programming - down somewhat. Clearly he had value, but as things stood, he wasn’t particularly valuable even though he should have been.

Khan wouldn’t have wanted to upset Cody’s pals by simply letting him go, so putting the decision in his hands, and framing it as Cody’s choice would have made sense.

I still think he’ll return to AEW one day, though.

[LaGoosh]

Yeah it can't really be stressed enough how bad the Codyverse was and it's all his own fault. Basically AEW started outgrowing Cody at the same time as Cody started getting worse and worse as a performer/booker. Or maybe once the initial sheen wore off it was just clear that there was nothing really much there in the first place.

I think Cody's AEW career downturn can be measured by three specific PPV matches.

Revolution 2020 - on an excellent PPV that really very much felt like the companies coming out party Cody, who was gold at this point, faced MJF in an extremely well built feud that was molten hot. Cody came out with that stupid tattoo and had a 25 minute stinker of a match. The bubble felt like it burst that night really. He never truly came back from that height. 

Double or Nothing 2021 - the first PPV back with a full crowd. This show felt like a celebration of the company after the COVID period and was filled with great matches and brilliant, feel good moments. Well not if your Cody, who while his colleagues tore the house down had a fucking awful match with Anthony Ogogo for some unknown reason in one of the worst feuds ever.

Full Gear 2021 - the company is absolutely 100% cooking now. CM Punk is here. Bryan Danielson is here. They've had Grand Slam. Crowds are big and hot. The homegrown talents are now big beloved established stars. Hangman Page is about to be World Champion. And everyone is sick to death of Cody Rhodes. On this show he's thrown into a random tag match with Pac and two ex-WWE guys who can't wait to go back ASAP. The match has barely any build and is the absolute shits. 

So yeah, Cody can throw shade as much as he likes but really his "creation" outgrew his abilities too quickly for him to catch up and instead of changing his game he doubled down on everything the fans hated. He's 100% to blame.

[The King Of Swing]

Honestly I'm still convinced that a WWE return was always Cody's true endgame. Not a dig at him or anything, that's just the vibe I always got from him. 

One little thing from his AEW run that has always been stuck in my brain, was that time he did the old injury angle during a ladder match. 

Sure it's a classic but instead of vanishing to the back he just hung around the entrance way, like a complete goon. Which completely distracted me from the match.

Oh and the Ogogo feud. That was absolutely rotten.

Edited August 3, 2025 by The King Of Swing

[Guest]

The most important thing coming out of that interview is that Cody thinks Montreal may have been a work. Need to get Daniel Bryan back for the Talking Smack interview, and that'll be the end of him. 

[LaGoosh]

48 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Oh and the Ogogo feud. That was absolutely rotten

The feud and match absolutely exposed Cody as the shits as far as I'm concerned. It was easily the type of thing a true pro white meat babyface like John Cena could have made work. But Cody fucked it at every turn.

[air_raid]

45 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Honestly I'm still convinced that a WWE return was always Cody's true endgame. Not a dig at him or anything, that's just the vibe I always got from him.

Completely. His entire personality was “I’m better than what you’re doing with me, so I’m going to walk away. I’m going to bet on myself, prove that the wider wrestling world will accept and present me as the big deal I could become, and when you realize I’m a difference maker, you’ll have me back but not as Stardust, as myself on my own terms.”

I’m glad that’s how it was, I’m glad he took the chance. I was one of his biggest doubters and detractors in this very thread, and prior to that when I went to see a Wrestle Kingdom live I was dismayed a talent like Kota Ibushi was getting stuck with Cody “Adequate” Rhodes. I was wrong, and I’m glad I was. Regardless of what’s happening elsewhere, to me “the show” is always where the strongest memories are created and the lead to and execution of the two-part main of Mania 40 was one of my favourite stories in the last 15 years… maybe favourite.

[The King Of Swing]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

The feud and match absolutely exposed Cody as the shits as far as I'm concerned. It was easily the type of thing a true pro white meat babyface like John Cena could have made work. But Cody fucked it at every turn.

Imo, Ogogo was really just the wrong guy for that feud. 

Still green as hell and from what I recall, really well liked, especially on social media where from memory, Cody took a load of shit over the feud. 

No idea if Cody felt that he could carry Ogogo and "make a star" or what. But in the end it just didn't work and imo, it definitely damaged Cody's reputation with AEW fans. 

Happy that he eventually made it work in WWE.

[LaGoosh]

3 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Imo, Ogogo was really just the wrong guy for that feud. 

Still green as hell and from what I recall, really well liked, especially on social media where from memory, Cody took a load of shit over the feud. 

No idea if Cody felt that he could carry Ogogo and "make a star" or what. But in the end it just didn't work and imo, it definitely damaged Cody's reputation with AEW fans. 

Happy that he eventually made it work in WWE.

The fault lies with Cody. Ogogo was charismatic enough in the build up that he was getting cheered over Cody!

And the match itself should have been built around wrestler vs boxer which is a very easy concept to structure a match around - the heel boxer lands some heavy punches and the babyface wrestler sells like crazy before winning using their wrestling skills/technique, a simple match which is perfect when one of you is green as grass - but Cody just worked it like a normal match for some unknown reason and it sucked.

[HarmonicGenerator]

36 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Imo, Ogogo was really just the wrong guy for that feud. 

Still green as hell and from what I recall, really well liked, especially on social media where from memory, Cody took a load of shit over the feud. 

No idea if Cody felt that he could carry Ogogo and "make a star" or what. But in the end it just didn't work and imo, it definitely damaged Cody's reputation with AEW fans. 

Happy that he eventually made it work in WWE.

It's over four years later now, and Ogogo still hasn't recovered from the Cody match. He's the lowest down the totem pole in a group of losers who appear semi-regularly on Collision. You have to wonder how things might have gone differently for him without Cody as his first (only) wrestling feud.