10 Most Improved Wrestlers On The Planet Today
7. Cody
Cody, because he is a genius, massages the perception that he was a mediocre midcard also-ran in WWE because it renders his renaissance all the more triumphant.
That isn't entirely true.
Throughout the latter half of 2013, Rhodes was on fire as a dynamic, house afire babyface - a crucial architect behind his elder brother's own twilight renaissance. The Rhodes Family Vs. The Shield mini-programme inspired this confidence within Cody, but beyond that, he was left to stagnate. That was the least of his worries. The infamous Stardust character, a goofy embarrassment, saw Cody enter the realm of unadulterated WrestleCrap.
Cody remains a far better worker than pro wrestler, but that narrative does him a disservice. Joining the ranks of superb heels Tommaso Ciampa and Sasha Banks, Cody, so studiously knowledgeable about his audience, became acutely aware of when exactly to duck out of the action to antagonise them without meaninglessly stalling. Packing on the muscle mass, Cody also presented himself as a formidable physical specimen, allowing New Japan fans to reconcile his relative lack of, sigh, workrate, and to take him seriously in major, acclaimed matches against Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega.
'Three Star Cody' is the cynical SquaredCircle criticism. He's Four Star Cody in 2018, having forced a great number of his critics to kiss the ring.