10 Times WWE IGNORED The Fans (... And Got It Right!)

2. Maintaining The Stardust Gimmick

Lita Edge
WWE.com

Right, this one is very much an entry reliant on Cody Rhodes' dogged determination, work ethic, and willingness to bet on himself - and it's also reliant on WWE not particularly playing a significant role in Rhodes' reinvention of himself - but in an extremely 'long-game' road laced with happenstance, WWE refusing to allow Cody to drop his Stardust gimmick has led to the market leader now having a white-hot megastar on their hands.

As Stardust, Cody went fully in on the gimmick, embracing the eccentricities of the character. Still, once Dusty Rhodes tragically passed away in 2015, many clamoured to see Cody return to his roots as, well, Cody Rhodes.

When any such gimmick change failed to happen, Rhodes ultimately asked for - and was granted - his WWE release in May 2016.

Would Cody Rhodes have become the Cody Rhodes of today if he'd have remained with WWE? That's an incredibly tough question. What we do know, however, is that Rhodes' decision to depart the market leader and take a chance on himself resulted in him nowadays being the biggest babyface in WWE and one of the biggest stars in the industry.

To get to where he is now, Cody spent time in IMPACT Wrestling, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, various independent promotions, and eventually co-founded AEW - all as he honed the American Nightmare act that now has him sat at WWE's top table.

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.