101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened

Cody Rhodes was sighing all over the place before he requested his release from WWE in 2016. The writing team refused to let him shed his Stardust character, and that led to Cody deciding that he'd rather do his own thing on the independent scene for a while to rebuild his reputation. That risk paid off for the dude in a big, big way, but something else was afoot before he left.

Check this idea out: Rhodes was going to be Stardust on Raw and himself over on SmackDown. Yep, he would've pulled double duty across both major brands. What's more, they’d have been run as independent characters with no crossover, which meant things could've been a tad more creatively fulfilling for Cody on the blue brand side of things.

He'd have to grit his teeth and get on with some 'Cosmic Wasteland' nonsense on Mondays, but still. This was a neat compromise that might've kept Rhodes around a little longer. Shame it didn't come to fruition or actually happen then, huh? Reacting, Cody came up with a Tony Stark/Iron Man offshoot that received pilot promos, then left with a shake of his head once it became clear that Vince McMahon was 'Stardust or nothing'.

Rhodes chose 'nothing', but he'd work his way back into WWE's good books to become a multi-time World Champion. Maybe someday he can explore this dual-layered alter ego business and become this generation's Mick Foley. Hey, stranger things have happened in the industry.

Don't rule out Cody trying on 2 characters at once. Probably not Stardust, right enough.