8 Radical Ideas To Save Cody Rhodes

Randy Orton will be returning fairly soon, and he's been gone for a while.

In his absence, several NXT stalwarts and midcard wannabes have stepped up to fill the void. Dean Ambrose is more unhinged, Sami Zayn is more talented and Kevin Owens is better at being hated... but is there anyone better than Orton at all three at once?

Naturally he'll come back heeled out and tooled up - but who should he destroy to make that 'I'm baaack' statement? Well, what if his first match was with Goldust... and Orton wiped him from the face of the earth?

More precisely, let’s say that Stardust and Goldust finally look to continue their feud from 2014, and escalate their bitter sibling rivalry at the next pay-per-view/special Network event/wrestlepalooza/whatever it is they're calling these things in 2016. 

Before they get a chance, Orton returns and faces Goldie on RAW, and after some back and forth, takes the elder Rhodes to the woodshed, culminating in a punt to the head that changes the colour of his eyes.

The current babyface version of Goldust is still really popular with the fans, not to mention one of the best workers on the roster. If anyone can sell an Orton post-match beatdown like murder on the dancefloor and generate enough heat to warm up an ice cold Viper, it's the Bizarre One. That leaves the schizoid Stardust a brother and an opponent down.

Orton has some serious form in dragging a rival's family into a feud. Ring announcer Eden Stiles is really Brandi Runnels, Cody's wife, and Dustin and Cody's legendary late father was one of the most revered men in pro wrestling... whose treasured memory is the perfect target for the former Legend Killer to spit his poison on.

There's enough material there to turn Stardust into a top level vengeful spitfire babyface, or to mark the return of Cody Rhodes in the same role. 

Orton and Rhodes work well together, and it’s about time that Orton passed the torch a little, especially given how the Legacy’s blow-off match went.