8 Wrestlers Who HATED Their Own Gimmicks

8. Cody Rhodes (Stardust)

Adopting the character of Stardust was an incredibly bleak period in the life of Cody Rhodes.

He's a man who's incredibly dedicated to his craft, so he threw his all into the cosmic superstar, but time has proved this to be an unfathomable waste of his talents as a wrestler and someone who can draw waves of emotion from WWE's fanbase.

Looking at the character through the lens of the enormous success he's enjoyed since being granted his release in May 2016, this was simply an insane 2 years in Cody's life. He debuted on the 14 June 2014 episode of Raw by humping the tron, thus setting the tone for the hyperactive intergalactic menace. Cody has revealed retrospectively that his intention was to play the character like Jim Carrey's portrayal of The Riddler in Batman Forever, which he actually did to a solid standard.

There are some revisionist takes on Stardust out there, and in truth the character itself was conceptually sound. Cody lived the gimmick like a method actor, but the creative around Stardust was nonsense. Cody is now polite about those years, but Brandi Rhodes has revealed the depths of despair that her husband went through in his 2-year run as Stardust in many interviews over the years.