Is Cody Rhodes Wrestling's True Genius??

Cody's probably the last true wrestling star. Especially one who's not a WWE creation. But he's ridden off of the accolades of his father a lot to get there.

If his last name wasn't Rhodes none of that would have been possible.

What I will say about Cody is that he now looks like a star and I respect his passion for the business.

During his original stint the only part of him that stood out was the Rhodes name.

My thoughts on Cody

The first time I ever really saw him in any capacity was when he and Dustin inducted Dusty into the HOF. He blew me away with his speech and I remember thinking the guy really had it on the mic but I wasn’t aware he was already training to wrestle.

I remember enjoying his run with Bob Holly.

I thought legacy was a great concept and I always felt Cody was superior to Ted jr and now we all know he is/was.

I loved Dashing and Grotesque Cody. That Mania match with Rey is a real gem of a match that I feel like doesn’t get talked about like it should.

He was pretty dang over in 2012 or 2013 whenever it was when he got a mustache over and the crowd wanted him to win the MITB so bad but they went with Sandow. Then they just proceeded to bury Sandow.

His run with Goldust was great. That tag match where they won the titles is still one of my favorite WWE moments. You could tell how much that meant to Dusty and it’s just a great moment.

The Stardust thing was decent, in theory, but it should’ve been short lived. I don’t blame him for wanting to leave the company and do more. He was a good talker and had the talent in the ring but just couldn’t seem to put it all together.

After he left WWE, he went and did his own thing on the indies and all that. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t follow much of it because I don’t follow very much outside of mainstream American wrestling aside from the big names and the indie darlings.

I loosely followed AEW until Punk’s debut so I didn’t really see much of his matches or stories and just kinda made a slightly uninformed opinion of Cody. I didn’t really like him anymore as I felt like he was just cocky and thought of himself in a very high regard that I personally felt wasn’t warranted.

After the rumors surfaced of him going to WWE earlier this year, I started going back and watching everything Cody did in AEW. For the longest, he was the most over guy on the show/card. The crowd loved him. He presented himself like a star and he came across as the most “professional” out of the bunch. I understand how and why the crowd turned on him but I firmly believe it helped push him away from AEW.

As soon as his music hit at Mania, paired with that Road Warrior pop and just seeing how much it meant to him to get that reaction… I was instantly a Cody mark. His matches with Rollins were fantastic and now that he’s “home” it just feels right. It feels natural.

Long winded, I know. But I do think Cody is one of the last true stars in wrestling and albeit he probably wouldn’t be where he is without his dad’s last name, the same could be said for numerous wrestlers.

Cody is the man and he should 100% be the face or one of the faces to carry the company for the next few years. He should beat Roman. He deserves the moment and there’s no one or no opinion that will ever change my mind.

Going after the dude for a speech impediment that mirrors his dad's? That's kinda lame.

I dunno, but he deserves kudos and gets my respect for betting on himself and raising his stock. Is my respect worth anything? IMO yes, absolutely.

I think a lot of this just kind of played out coincidentally, I feel he really wanted AEW to succeed and had everyone's best interests at heart (Tony, fans, the rest of The Elite, etc.). I don't think he played the long game with the goal to go back to WWE. ROH and TNA were waiting to push him because of his talent and lineage, eventually he became part of the Bullet Club/Elite, and was able to turn that into a phenomenon that revolutionized NJPW and ROH. He saw the twitter momentum building up around Dave saying a non-WWE promotion couldn't draw X amount of people; from there, as you mentioned, he won the NWA Title and created an all-star show featuring a ton of promotions. Used the momentum from that to found AEW. But I do think when AEW formed in 2019 he goal was to stay there for years and years.
Why did he leave? Don't know. Maybe he saw the modern style of the Bucks and Omega as taking over, and as more of a traditionalist, saw a better opportunity in WWE. Maybe he, over time, became happy with the idea that he helped create a place that could give people jobs and TV time, without believing he had to actually be there in person for it anymore.
With heading to WWE, his baby - AEW - lives on, his spirit lives on there. His brother is still there. And in WWE he can work a more traditional style and perhaps become world champ.
I think one thing that might hurt Cody is if too many people over time come to the WWE from AEW. It has to be a special thing; lots go TO AEW, very few have gone TO WWE. For now what he did is very, very special.

There is only one Genius.. The Genius.

He's the best in the world at what he does

I had to doublecheck that this thread wasn't a Cody Rhodes Diva special.