10 Major Stars Who Questioned Bad WWE Booking
9. Cody Rhodes
One of AEW's finest was beyond sick of WWE life by the time he requested his release in May 2016. Cody Rhodes had been pigeonholed into the role of Stardust for almost two agonising years, and he finally felt that enough was enough. It was time for a change of scenery, because WWE defo weren't going to give him a change of character.
Stardust had to go.
The smile Cody wore when he first bounced onto the stage at EVOLVE 66 in August that year told the full story; here was a man who had yearned to ditch the face paints and comedic undertones of a cartoonish gimmick that had lost any relevancy. Rhodes was finally free to do his own thing.
Who knows why WWE's writers ignored his pitches for change. It was obvious to everyone by 2015 that Stardust was old news, Cody merited something different and nobody was really winning by linking him with The Ascension.