10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Payback

2. The Final WWE Match Of "Cody Rhodes"

Cody Rhodes payback
WWE

Much like Payback 2016 saw Bret Hart's final Sharpshooter, two years prior Payback was host to Cody Rhodes' final match as, well, Cody Rhodes.

At that 2014 event, Cody and Goldust came up short against Ryback and Curtis Axel. Left rocked by this loss, Cody followed the Owen Hart mantra of "enough is enough and it's time for a change"; only that change initially involved Cody putting Sin Cara with Goldust, then trying R-Truth as his brother's partner.

With the Cara and Truth partnerships not working out, it's here that Cody Rhodes would debut his face paint-adorned, bodysuit-wearing eccentric persona of Stardust.

We'd had the Legacy Cody, we'd had Dashing and Undashing versions of Cody, we'd had the Rhodes Scholars iteration of Cody, and now Payback 2014 had seen the final match of the future American Nightmare's WWE career under his Cody Rhodes name.

Famously, Cody would become frustrated with the Stardust gimmick in the months prior to him departing WWE in 2016, pleading for that character to be dropped entirely. While stubborn WWE creative refused to placate Rhodes at that point, the promotion was obviously extremely eager to welcome him back into the fold as Cody Rhodes upon Cody's return to WWE last year.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.