10 Great Wrestling Careers Ruined By Bad Gimmick Changes
7. Cody Rhodes Becoming Stardust
Cody Rhodes has established himself as independent wrestling’s hottest commodity since leaving WWE in 2016. As one of the most in-demand wrestlers in the world, Rhodes has appeared for almost every non-WWE promotion that matters, from PWG and TNA to WCPW and NJPW. Thus, becoming Stardust hasn’t completely ruined his wrestling career as a whole, but it destroyed his run with the biggest wrestling promotion on the planet.
As fun as it was to see Cody adopt some of his brother Goldust’s character traits at first, Stardust soon became a dead-end gimmick for a multi-talented star. At one point, Cody looked set to following in his father Dusty’s footsteps and become one of American wrestling’s biggest stars. Instead, he became a lower-card novelty act, with only his brief feud with Arrow star Stephen Amell standing-out after splitting with his brother.
Cody’s appearances became fewer and farther between, and his frustration grew behind the scenes. Rhodes had reportedly pitched the idea of ditching the Stardust character to WWE on multiple occasions, but he was turned down or ignored at every juncture.
Finally, on May 21st, 2016, Rhodes decided that he’d had enough. He officially requested his release from the company, and was gone the very next day.