Personally, I have never been fond of the Stardust character, but to give credit where credit is due, Cody Rhodes has made the most of the gimmick. He has on the record in the past in saying he enjoys portraying Stardust and it shows; he genuinely appears to be having fun whenever he's in the ring. As entertaining as Stardust can be at times, however, it is as Cody Rhodes that he'll be able to fulfill his full potential in WWE. Stardust could have been a great pest heel had he not been booked so haphazardly over the past years. His long awaited feud with Goldust was abruptly scrapped, his never-ending series of matches with Neville went nowhere, and his alliance with The Ascension has been a bust. WWE is apparently planning on rekindling his rivalry with "Arrow" star Stephen Amell, but few fans will take Stardust seriously when he hasn't won a meaningful match in ages. For what it's worth, Cody Rhodes noted on his personal Twitter in the last two weeks that the idea of his alter-ego returning in the Royal Rumble had been thrown around, but there was "no interest." It could been his way of swerving the fans and the character will make a comeback after all, especially since his recent rival Titus O'Neil has mentioned Cody Rhodes quite a bit lately. If nothing else, it would a fun way of revisiting the 1998 Royal Rumble with Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack by having Stardust get eliminated early only to return as Cody Rhodes shortly thereafter.
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
