Believe it or not, it's been more than eight years since Cody Rhodes first debuted on WWE television. Since his debut, the youngster who was touted as a future main eventer has gone through a myriad of gimmick changes. He's been a fiery rookie, a second-generation star looking to overtake the company's veterans, a pretty-boy obsessed with personal grooming, a vengeful maniac with a broken face, a proud brother standing with his family, Goldust-lite, and a deranged supervillain - oh, and a guy with a moustache, or something. The common link between all of Rhodes's personae is that they haven't gotten over as well as would have been hoped. Rhodes is talented (though not as talented as many of WWE's other wrestlers), but he's failed to connect with the audience. His personality has always felt a bit stilted, and his charisma is lacking. He's lucky that the company has been so persistent when it comes to pushing him, but fans have suffered through a lot of attempts that have only led to boring TV.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
