5 Real WWE Storyline Pitches That Were Rejected
3. The New Goldust & Marlena
Vince McMahon loved the idea of turning Cody Rhodes into Stardust, even though Rhodes himself has stated in numerous interviews that the idea was one that held short-lived interest for him personally. In 2014, the WWE creative team were tasked with finding a way of turning Cody into a modern update of his brother's infamous Goldust character.
Kevin Eck's idea was to have Brandi Rhodes (known as Eden Stiles under WWE's umbrella) be the one who turned Cody into the mysterious, out-there Stardust. She would do this by convincing her lover that Goldust was hogging the spotlight and using Cody to remain relevant.
Stealing from the Goldust playbook herself, Brandi would then become a 2014 version of Marlena and tag along with the new Stardust character to rub their success in Goldust's face.
McMahon chose to go in a different direction and have Cody reveal Stardust as the perfect tag-team partner for his brother. Brandi wasn't involved at all either, and the resultant feud between both siblings was canned after just one pay-per-view match at Fastlane 2015.