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Top 7 Cody Rhodes WWE Moments

April 11, 2022 | Posted by Steve Cook
Cody Rhodes Seth Rollins WrestleMania 38 Image Credit: WWE

After nearly six years crossing the world to become a better wrestler, appear on reality shows & create an empire, Cody Rhodes has returned to WWE. Before we look towards Cody’s future, it seems like a decent idea to look back at the past. Cody’s previous WWE tenure had its high spots. It also had its low spots.

We’re looking at the high spots today, as we count down the seven most magnificent Cody Rhodes WWE moments.

7. Dashing Cody’s Grooming Tips

Up until 2010, Cody hadn’t really had the chance to establish himself as a solo act. He’d teamed with Hardcore Holly. He’d joined Legacy. His father had joined him on multiple occasions. However, Cody hadn’t yet had the chance to step out of the shadow of his father or the men he had been teaming with. Dashing Cody Rhodes was Cody’s first chance to establish a persona that was all his.

Cody became a bit of a narcissist obsessed with his looks. A classic persona, and we’ve seen wrestlers educate fans on the value of soap & other grooming tips before. Dashing Cody pulled it off well, and started to gain attention from the masses.

6. Losing the Tag Team Championship to Himself

Cody became a tag team specialist during his first stint with WWE. He would hold six championships with four different partners, including his very first WWE title. Rhodes formed a tag team with Hardcore Holly after earning Holly’s respect during a series of singles matches the two had. They defeated Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team Championship on Raw’s 15th Anniversary, and would hold the title for 202 days.

Rhodes & Holly’s run came to an end af 2009’s Night of Champions. Young Ted DiBiase had challenged them upon his debut, wanting to win a championship in his debut. DiBiase had a mystery partner, who we found out was Cody Rhodes. Rhodes turned his back on Holly to join a man that he had more in common with at the time, and became the first person in WWE history to win a championship from himself. It’s a tough feat to pull off.

5. Stepping up at MITB 2013

The 2013 Money in the Bank Ladder Matches for #1 contendership to the WWE & World Championships had a unique feature to them from most years. The WWE Championship MITB featured a collection of characters that were cheered. The World Championship MITB had folks that typically got booed. Cody was in the latter, along with his then-tag team partner Damien Sandow. Team Rhodes Scholars had come up short in their attempts to win a tag team championship, and it felt like it might be time for the two to part ways. A ladder match could only further things along in that regard.

During the process of the match, Cody became the wrestler that the fans got behind. He did some cool spots, took some big bumps, did things one would do to earn respect from a crowd. It seemed like Cody was on the verge of winning, but Sandow would push him off the ladder and gain the briefcase for himself. As it turned out, Cody was better off not winning the darn thing. Damien’s time with the briefcase involved a ton of losing and not even getting the fluke title win at the end.

4. DX vs. Legacy

Cody & Ted Dibiase eventually joined up with Randy Orton to form Legacy, a group of second & third-generation wrestlers that thought they were superior to everybody else because of their bloodlines. (Seems like there’s always a group of wrestlers like that, doesn’t it?) Cody & Ted mostly served as Randy’s backup, which got them some heat with Triple H after they cost him another title match against Orton. A rare handicap match loss led to Triple H recruiting his friend Shawn Michaels to re-form D-Generation X and feud with Rhodes & Dibiase.

HBK & HHH faced Cody & Ted on three straight PPVs. It was like an old school Madison Square Garden feud. DX ended up winning the feud at Hell in a Cell, but Rhodes & Dibiase had the chance to further establish themselves against some of the company’s biggest names. The HIAC match was also Cody’s first time main eventing a PPV.

3. Rey Ends Cody’s Dashing Days

Early 2011 saw grave misfortune strike one Dashing Cody Rhodes. While competing in a match on SmackDown, Cody’s face was struck by Rey Mysterio’s knee brace while Rey was doing the 619 move. Cody became disfigured and the complete opposite of dashing. After having his face reconstructed, Rhodes came back a month later much darker & more sadistic than he had previously been. He gained his biggest victory up to that point when he defeated Mysterio at WrestleMania XXVII.

UnDashing Cody would become Rhodes’ most successful singles persona during his first stint with WWE. In addition to that WrestleMania victory, Rhodes won his first singles championship when he defeated Ezekiel Jackson for the Intercontinental Championship. Cody even brought back the classic IC belt we all loved from the late 80s-early 90s, complete with white strap.

2. The Rhodes Family vs. The Shield

Cody ended up on the wrong side of The Authority in late 2013. Speaking out against Triple H got him booked into a match against Randy Orton with his job on the line. That didn’t go well, and Cody’s brother Goldust also lost to Orton to get canned. They still appeared on TV a few times since that’s what fired people do, and they got a match at Battleground against Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins. If they won, they would get their jobs back!

Dusty was in his sons’ corner against The Shield, and Cody & Goldust had one of their best matches together. They got their jobs back, won the Tag Team Championship from Roman & Seth a week later, and life was pretty good. Then they went on a losing streak, Cody became Stardust, and things got a bit weird.

1. The Prodigal Son Returns

Cody received his release from WWE on May 22, 2016. He saw that he was only going to reach a certain level while remaining with WWE, and at that point was better off seeking greener pastures. It was a pretty great decision, as Cody ended up being successful everywhere he went. He held championships on three continents. He created a new persona for himself and became part of New Japan’s biggest faction. Cody helped Ring of Honor achieve its biggest financial success, and helped create All Elite Wrestling. He thought he’d be there forever, but times change.

It’d been a few minutes since WWE had brought back somebody that nobody thought was coming back. People wondered if they drug the wait out too long, but the reaction Cody got at WrestleMania justified it. He’d never gotten that type of a reaction from a WWE audience. Cody made a bet on himself, and won. He returned to WWE a bigger star than he was before. He also had a better match than anything he’d previously done in WWE.

Perhaps the follow-up won’t be great. Most of the great moments Cody had in his first WWE didn’t lead to much. Hopefully for Cody’s sake, this time will be different.

Thanks for reading! Hit me up on the Twitter or the comment section with any thoughts, concerns or nonsense you feel would entertain the masses.

article topics :

Cody Rhodes, WWE, Steve Cook