10 Recently Revealed WWE Ideas That Were Pitched And Went Nowhere

AEW Executive Vice President Cody has shared details about two ideas he had when he was in WWE that he worked on with his father Dusty Rhodes that were ultimately turned down.

Cody recalled how, prior to leaving WWE, when he was desperate to ditch the Stardust gimmick, he went through a phase of going to the WWE Performance Center to work on different concepts with Dusty at the time, noting he was blessed he got the chance to do so before he passed. He stated how “none of them got greenlit” before revealing how one was based on Iron Man’s Tony Stark.

Rhodes hoped to channel his love of comic books into his career in 2016 and be a heel Tony Stark. The gimmick would have seen Cody act as a “prince in the industry, the opposite of the common man which Dusty was.” Rhodes filmed a promo with his wife Brandi, imitating the superhero’s egotism, riches and stature. While WWE would reject the idea, leaving Cody stranded in the Stardust role, the promo has since leaked online, giving fans a glance of the Iron Man Cody could have been.

Another idea Cody pitched was for his Stardust character where he’d be accompanied by a hairless cat. He reflected on how Dusty once tried to film a promo with him and the hairless cat:-

"When I was doing the Stardust character, I really wanted to have a hairless cat. So my poor dad, he's trying to produce this promo, and I've got this hairless cat in there in the makeup and the glitter. And he's watching his son just absurd pieces of business, but he was always really helpful. At the end, everything I flew against the wall didn't stick, which the ultimate answer of that was why don't I try being myself and see if that sells any tickets.”

Turns out it sold a lot of tickets...