10 Totally Unnecessary WWE Gimmick Changes
5. Cody Rhodes (Proud Family Man > Stardust)
Do yourself a favour. Boot up WWE Network/Peacock, go back in time to late-2013 and watch some of Cody Rhodes' fire opposite The Authority. This seemed like WWE's best crack at turning Cody into a headliner, but they had other things in mind for the guy.
Namely, Stardust.
Cody ditched his proud and dignified defence of his father's legacy to dress up like a mix between Phantasio and Goldust. All those passionate promos about doing Dusty proud were replaced by a prancing clown character who lacked the attention-stealing impact his brother's own gimmick change had mastered in the mid-90s. Yeah, Stardust (homage to Dusty's career or not) was rubbish.
It wasn't necessary either, and that's the worst thing. Cody was hearing great reactions from crowds for sticking it to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, and it's hardly like his ring work couldn't match that verbal fire. Then, the face paints came out and it was curtains.