10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Cody Rhodes
7. His Bizarre Relationship With Hardcore Holly
Cody Rhodes was brought onto WWE television the way that many had before him: by feuding with hard-nosed veteran Bob 'Hardcore' Holly. Well, it wasn't exactly how he was brought in, but it was his first memorable storyline.
Holly beat him in three consecutive weeks and beat him badly, chopping and stomping away en route to convincing victories. During one backstage segment, Holly smacked Rhodes on the face with a full-on open-hand slap. According to Holly's autobiography, Vince McMahon directed him by saying:
"Bob, this is TV. I want you to slap Cody. When I say I want you to slap him, I f*cking want you to slap him."
Holly didn't need telling twice and did as his boss desired.
Despite losing three matches on the bounce, Hardcore was suitably impressed with the young rookie's guts and abilities and the two started teaming. Unfortunately, Cody ended up disrespecting Holly, or at least that's the way Holly tells it in his book. He talks about how during a Raw match, Cody refused to tag him in, supposedly after a confab with his father, Dusty. Cody was being selfish and hogging the TV time for himself, which didn't sit well with the former Sparky Plugg.
After that, Holly stopped trusting Cody and soon after the team were split up as Holly needed surgery, with Cody turning on the veteran and forming Legacy with Ted DiBiase Jr.