10 Times WWE Dropped The Ball With Cody Rhodes

You can't usher in a new era without doing away with the old guard. Over the past month, WWE has released more than a dozen employees, from wrestlers to announcers to agents. None of the departures were as shocking as Cody Rhodes', however, with the performer announcing his release from the organisation this past weekend.

Rhodes arrived on the WWE scene in the summer of 2007 as little more than a young rookie, but in the years that followed he worked hard to hone his craft and make a name for himself. He did just that by turning everything he was involved in into gold and making the most of each gimmick he was given. 

Despite his incredible abilities and unlimited potential, WWE never seemed determined enough to push him as the top-tier talent he seemed destined to be.

Prior to his abrupt departure, Rhodes had been toiling away on WWE Superstars and Main Event as Stardust and hadn't been prominently pushed in nearly two years. While the Stardust gimmick ran its course ages ago, hope remained that he could be repackaged as Cody Rhodes and get back on the right track to superstardom.

Sadly, that never came to fruition, and WWE only have themselves to blame for dropping the ball on him as many times as they did.

Whenever Cody Rhodes seemed to be on the brink of greatness as a singles performer, he would be shunted back to the tag team division. That was a recurring theme throughout his tenure in WWE, with a notable example coming in 2010.

He was just finding his footing as "Dashing" Cody Rhodes when he was paired with Drew McIntyre out of the blue for no apparent reason. By the time they captured the WWE Tag Team Championship at 2010's Night of Champions pay-per-view, the tag team division was depleted and there was no one for them to defend against.

Rhodes and McIntyre worked well together and would have flourished at any other point, but without storyline support the tandem was doomed to flop. They didn't have a single memorable title defense before abruptly dropping the straps to Nexus members John Cena and David Otunga in an unadvertised match at Bragging Rights the following month.

And that was it. The duo was never granted their rightful rematch for the titles and went their separate ways shortly thereafter, and for what? WWE didn't have any major plans for Rhodes on his own until early 2011. Meanwhile, McIntyre floundered for the remainder of his career before being unceremoniously released in 2014.

Rhodes had a number of colourful partners over the course of his WWE tenure, but McIntyre was the one ally of his WWE could have done more with.