10 Wrestlers Who Drew REAL Heat In The Post-Kayfabe Age
8. Cody
Getting heat is straightforward, if you do the work to build a babyface and resonate as a convincing enough threat to put a beating on that babyface.
But the industry has changed as much as the world has. There's no earnest feeling anymore, virtually anywhere. Cody Rhodes, a modern pro wrestling genius, looked further to where that feeling resided and arrived at a t-shirt.
He had the nous to realise what was over - in this case, an iconic piece of fabric - and legitimately pissed off an army of fans who wore it with as with defiance as celebration. The Bullet Club logo was cool - hence why it was such a hot seller - but it was also emblematic of a philosophy of wrestling worth believing and holding pride in. As the insurgent who used the cachet of the faction to drive his own career ambitions, Cody was loathed. He was also the taunt guy who wasn't as good as the moves guys, at least in the perception he was clever enough to massage.
And so he threatened to redesign the sacred logo, but, in a premonition of the long-term storytelling nous he'd reveal in AEW, he teased pulling the trigger. He toyed with your anxiety. And then, in a tremendous sight gag, he let the world know.
The new logo couldn't have been more Cody if it did a blade job; decorated with his trademark insignias of cigars and old glory, the skull also sprouted bleach blonde hair in an irreverent, arrogant - and despised - sight gag.