Summary
This year has seen emotions towardsCody Rhodesrun a gauntlet of highs and lows, unlike anything he has faced since returning toWWEin 2022. Some fans have been questioning if Cody Rhodes has been a good WWE Champion in the relatively short time he’s had with the company’s main title, and while some of the criticism is understandable,his reign has already all the signs of greatness. Starting the year by eliminating CM Punk to win the Men’s Royal Rumble Match in January, becoming only the fourth man to ever win the event back-to-back, it’s hard to see anything but great storytelling that honors all parts of his lore.
WWE Fans Revolt And Change The Course Of WWE History
“We Want Cody” is the perfect start to Cody’s Championship Reign
Rhodes has used this title reign thus far to continue his phenomenally nuanced long-term storytelling that brings his past into his present, while always creating a new future.
The date was February 2nd, 2024, and the occasion was the climax of SmackDown at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.A white-hot crowd erupted for the announcement of The Rock vs Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, a match that has been in the making for so long that it was referenced on April 12th, 2022, in Season 2 Episode 5 ofYoung Rock. One glance at the reaction online and it was a completely different story.
It doesn’t feel controversial to call the Internet Wrestling Community an opinionated and divisive space. Still,the words “We Want Cody” seemed to unify just about everybodyas it trended for days on social media. Gaining momentum thanks to the support of the popular Sirius XM wrestling show Busted Open, the hashtag grew into a real movement that the WWE was quick to capitalize on. As The Rock said during the Wrestlemania 40 behind-the-scenes documentary (attracting his own share of criticism and funny memes for apparently taking the merit for it), the office decided that it was possible to have Rock and Roman in the same ring AND give Cody what he deserved.
The rest is history asCody headlined WrestleMania and justifiably finished his story by becoming WWE Champion, ending the historic 1,316-dayChampionship reign of Roman Reigns,andsetting up a future one-on-one encounter with The Rockin a sensational segment to open the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania. It felt like all was right in the world and theWWE unquestionably had the right guy as their Championfor their bright new future.
“He represents the company in such a positive way outside of the ring, off of the television screen. I just don’t think you could find a better World Champion right now.” Eric Bischoff,83 Weeks
However, In the four months that have passed since he reached the top of the mountain,the story that Cody Rhodes is telling doesn’t seem to have connected with everybody. This feels surprising given the evidence at hand. Rhodes has used this title reign thus far to continue his phenomenally nuanced long-term storytelling that brings his past into his present, while always creating a new future.
Cody Has Been Honoring His Time On The Indies
Cody’s First Title Defense Honored the Time He Spent Away From WWE And AEW
Cast your mind back to 2016 and it becomes more apparent that"from undesirable to undeniable" is far more than just a catchy catchphrase. Over the course of three years, up to the formation of AEW and the first episode of Dynamite,Cody Rhodes traveled the globe on the independent wrestling circuitto put on every great wrestling match there was to be made at the time. Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Drew Galloway (now McIntyre), Zack Saber Jr., the list goes on, and it provides the foundation of what makes Cody so popular today. Those years matter forever because his credibility can never be questioned.
The relevance this has on his current reign is that Cody Rhodes had to have a good enough reason to jump from WWE in the first place. The burgeoning independent scene enabled him to go it alone andCody’s first defense as WWE Champion was against one of the men that helped pave that road,AJ Styles. These two are both majorly responsible for Bullet Club meaning what it does today, and they met for the first time in a WWE ring at Backlash. The match was incredible and only outdone by the energy the two created for a rabid Parisien crowd. The follow-up at Clash At The Castle was every bit as good.
The same argument can also be made for Kevin Owens, who Rhodes will face for only the second time in singles competition at Bash In Berlin, butCody isn’t only honoring his past.
He Legitimized Logan Paul In WWE’s Main Event Scene
A Great Champion Elevates His Opponents
Logan Paul has been amazing at generating incredible amounts of heat, partially fueled by not defending the US Championship between WrestleMania and SummerSlam. Look closer at his WWE Championship match in May with Cody Rhodes, and it takes on greater significance in both his time with the US title and WWE’s bigger picture.
If the WWE Champion’s job is to elevate talent, Rhodes did that with Logan Paulat King And Queen Of The Ring. This seems to be universally accepted as the moment Logan Paul’s days as US Champion were numbered, as he became accepted as part of WWE’s Main Event scene. Quite te accomplishment for what’s essentially a rookie, and he has Cody to thank for that.
Roman’s Face Turn Has Completely Changed The Landscape
Despite the promises that the story was finished, it seems that Cody could not disentangle himself from the Bloodline after all, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. One of CM Punk’s major reasons for departing WWE under the past regime was that he was sick of having nobody to work in the long term. The current creative management, on the other hand, has been thriving on long-term storytelling, which is one of the secrets behind the company’s success.
BeforeRoman Reigns' incredible returnin August, he had not been seen since Wrestlemania in April, but that time has been used incredibly well to build the course that Reigns and Rhodes are about to embark on. It’s easy to see how drastically that landscape Punk succumbed to has altered, with the Bloodline storyline going on for years and showing no signs of stopping, or of losing momentum.
On the surface,Cody Rhodes has been fending off assaults from Solo Sikoa and the new-look Bloodlinein recent months. Sikoa just headlined his first PLE at SummerSlam in a losing effort against Cody for the WWE Championship, and Jacob Fatu is now one of the most feared foes in WWE. Not only that, for the first time since Cody signed for WWE in 2022, he finds himself on the same side of the fence as Roman.
The plot thickens with Survivor Series looming large and a newly babyface Roman having to face the consequences of his actions of the past few years.Reigns has no friends to help him avoid regular beatings from The Bloodline.Where does he turn?
“Now you see the emergence of Solo and Jacob Fatu and the Tongans and the fact that they are a real threat” Paul Heyman,Not Sam Wrestling
Cody’s role in this scenario is going to be fascinatingto watch play out. Will Cody see past the torment and torture that Roman Reigns put on him and his family name or will he leave him to suffer the surely cold shoulders of Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, LA Knight, Sami Zayn, and pretty much anyone else in the top half of the men’s roster?Does he risk the wrath of those who Roman wronged across his reign of terror to help him?This is the power of long-term booking and the story that Cody Rhodes' WWE Championship reign is telling.
One risk is that Roman’s turn could eclipse Cody’s role as the company’s top babyface. While it’s undeniable that Cosy is doing a great job in playing a John Cena-esque role, it’s also true that many fans and critics see his demeanor and style as more apt to a heel. Cody is great at kissing babies and giving kids his belts, but he also dresses and speaks as the epitome of the privileged man that the WWE’s working-class fans struggle to identify with (unlike John Cena).
It may only be part of the way through, butCody’s title reign feels like the perfect follow-up to Roman Reigns' history-making effort. It is hard to imagine that Cody won’t be WWE Champion going into the company’s first night on Netflix (even if he technically wrestles on Smackdown). Regardless of the opinion on Cody’s reign, what fans can be sure of is that things won’t be rushed. The Paul Levesque era of WWE has earned the necessary trust to tell a complete story with Cody. His reign has been great so far but, if there is something that unites both those who are and aren’t enjoying his run with the belt, it’s the great feeling shared by all WWE fans at the moment:the best is still yet to come.
