20 DUMB WWE Gimmick Changes (That We Didn't Want To Admit Were GENIUS)
7. Stardust Changes Cody Rhodes
OK, so this one stands out as unique and some won't agree. That's fine, because it wasn’t genius in a deliberate sense. Playing the Stardust character for so long soured Cody Rhodes on WWE life, so much so that he requested his release in 2016 and went out into the big, bad world of wrestling solo.
A critically-acclaimed indy run followed, and AEW was born from that yearning for more. Cody has since returned to become a genuine WWE megastar. What a happy accident Stardust was looking back! That's what makes his story so standalone on the list; Rhodes agreed that playing a costumed riff on his brother's Goldust gimmick sucked long-term.
However, it was accidentally genius because it pushed him to become more.
Would Cody have become the confident main-eventer he is in 2024 without those unwanted trials and tribulations? It's up for debate. He seemed destined to be a career midcarder before Stardust pushed him to seek change. Accidental genius is still genius.