The Many Faces Of Cody Rhodes - From Worst To Best
Dashing, disfigured and face-painted - here the many faces of Cody Rhodes, from worst to best.
Settling on a gimmick is arguably one of the most difficult starting points of a professional wrestler's career. Even the greatest names in the history of the business went through a few stinkers to get to the ones that made them great.
Before he was 'Stone Cold', Steve Austin was a blander than bland Ted DiBiase protege called The Ringmaster. The Rock had to go through an initial run as Rocky Maivia. Triple H was a aristocrat called Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The list goes on and on and on.
More often than not, superstars will settle on a gimmick that works and run with it, making only minor tweaks throughout their career.
All of which makes Cody Rhodes even more special. Ever since making his debut on WWE television in July of 2007, Cody has taken on many different faces and many different roles, all of which manage to fit the story arc of his character. It truly is an impressive feat, and testament to the talent of Dusty's son.
By my reckoning, there have been seven distinct stages of Cody's WWE run to date, and whilst none of them have been particularly horrible it is obvious that some were more interesting than others.
Here they are, ranked from worst to best.
7. Hardcore Holly's Protege
After doing a whole lot of nothing in his first weeks on WWE TV, Cody would pair up with Hardcore Holly. This came about after Holly defeated Cody in three straight matches, although Cody did manage to win something; Holly's heart.
Okay, not his heart, but Cody did gain the respect of the ornery veteran and the two formed a tag team.
They quickly gained tag team gold, but at this point in his career Cody Rhodes resembled the most hastily put together Create-A-Wrestler imaginable. Everything about him screamed bland, and the only memorable thing about his run with Holly was how it ended.
Cody would turn out to be Ted DiBiase Jr's mystery tag partner at Night of Champions in 2008, ending their 202 day reign. Interestingly enough, as Cody kept the title he held them for 238 days in total, the longest tag title reign for over 10 years at the time.