10 Wrestlers Who Achieved The Impossible
3. Cody: Competing With WWE
As Stardust, Cody Rhodes was knackered.
It was a dumbsh*tted gimmick even by New Generation standards. Once removed from the orbit of Goldust, the only context in which it made even a lick of sense, the gimmick was exposed as a laughing stock - a designation that was formalised upon his brief association with the Ascension. Cody tried, he really did, but the gimmick was irredeemably awful. Cody acted as if directed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but only the fat lady sang. That was the one indignity he was spared. He left WWE, because of course he did, in 2016.
His renaissance was as smart as Stardust was stupid; entering the Independent domain with an agreeable humility, he used this newfound currency to seamlessly reinvent himself as an excellent, machiavellian heel character, superbly mining his residual aura as "Three Star Cody" to antagonise a fierce Bullet Club fandom and their Five Star mentality. That he has even approached the seminal standard of New Japan's awesome Golden Age is a commendation of his intelligence.
Even more intelligently still, Cody has revived the dead NWA brand by associating it with his own, and, through an incredible marketing campaign predicated on a great underdog story, has drawn 10,000 fans to his September 1 All In extravaganza, thus magnifying an Independent circuit many deemed him not good enough to traverse.
In 2000, with a national TV presence, WCW drew just over 6,500 to its StarrCade flagship pay-per-view. Cody reached the elusive five figures by virtue of possessing the biggest balls and brain in modern wrestling.