10 Wrestlers Who Got A WrestleMania Singles Match Before Dolph Ziggler

7. Cody

Fandango WrestleMania 29
WWE.com

The 'American Nightmare' had to leave, restart his career and kickstart an entire company just to try and rebound from the bad hand he was dealt in WWE. In spite of that, the former Intercontinental Champion managed, rather impressively, to sneak a couple of singles matches on the 'Show Of Shows' before it became too long for its own good.

Returning as a darker version of his 'Dashing' persona for a WrestleMania XXVII battle with Rey Mysterio before feeling altogether more tidied up for his Intercontinental Title scrap with The Big Show the following year, Cody somehow broke free from a chasing pack that included Dolph Ziggler during a period in which WWE were working at record levels of indulgence in old stars on their 'Grandest Stage'.

In an indictment of how thing went for both of them in the years that followed, the pair shared Rhodes' final WrestleMania, making up the numbers in a multi-man Ladder war that served mostly to facilitate fisticuffs between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and giving the company a cute Instagram moment between Zack Ryder and Scott Hall.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett