10 Times WWE Dropped The Ball With Cody Rhodes
9. Feuding With Randy Orton
Coming off his long awaited Intercontinental Championship victory in August 2011, Cody Rhodes was in need of strong opponents to work with. Granted, he'd enjoyed successful title defenses against the likes of Ezekiel Jackson and Ted DiBiase, but fans wouldn't take him seriously until he started facing credible competition.
That October, he rekindled his rivalry with Randy Orton and blamed his former mentor for busting him open and forcing him to get stitches the month prior. However, once it was announced that their Vengeance match would be a non-title affair, it immediately became predictable he wasn't winning versus The Viper.
Sure enough, he fell short of victory at Vengeance.
The rivalry resumed in the weeks that followed, culminating in a Street Fight on SmackDown which was also won by Orton. Although Rhodes had strong showings on both occasions, he could have benefited from beating Orton far more than Orton did defeating him.
It also didn't do the Intercontinental Champion any favours to be losing non-title matches on a near-weekly basis, doing damage to the belt's prestige in the process.