Cody Rhodes, son of the “American Dream” and brother of Goldust, is one of the most skilled male third generation superstars in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). By his third year in professional wrestling he had become a major player in televised events.
Real Name : Cody Garrett Runnels
Alias(es) : Cody Rhodes & Cody Runnels
Date Of Birth : June 30, 1985 Height : 6’1 Weight : Approx. 220lbs
Pro Debut : May 13, 2006
Wrestling Organization : World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Trainer(s) : Ohio Valley Wrestling, Dusty & Dustin Rhodes, & Al Snow
Finisher(s) : CrossRhodes & The Silver Spoon DDTIndependent promotions
Early Pro Wrestling Promotions
Starting out pro wrestling using his birth name, Cody Runnels debuted in May of 2006 as part of Ohio Valley Wrestling and by August he was teaming with Shawn Spears. Runnels and Spears feuded with Deuce n’ Domino capturing the Southern Tag Team Championships on October 18th and again on December 13th. While holding the titles, on February 17th, 2007 in a match against Paul Burchill, Runnels won the OVW Heavyweight Championship. Runnels also won the OVW Television Championship title while feuding with partner Spears, who became jealous of Runnels success. This rivalry lasted throughout the rest of Cody’s OVW career.
Cody Rhodes in Word Wrestling Entertainment – WWE
Cody started his WWE career competing against Davari during a Smackdown event on June 30th, 2007 that was not aired. Though Rhodes won the match, he suffered a severe laceration to the head. Two days later, appearing on Raw with his father sporting a black eye and stitches, Rhodes officially met Randy Orton. Randy was establishing himself as “Legend Killer” and Cody’s father, being a legend himself, was a prime target. Randy walked up to Cody, introduced himself and slapped Rhodes’ father in the face as a sign of disrespect, challenging the “American Dream” to a match at he Great American Bash. The following week, jumping to defend his fathers honor, Cody slapped Orton in the face leading to July 16th, 2007 where the he had his first televised match.
Rhodes’ matches against Orton were not only short lived, but ended in his defeat each time. Ultimately, Orton cornered Dusty Rhodes and punted him in the head. Cody watched in horror as they took his father away on a stretcher. After a few losses already to Orton, acting general manager Jonathan Coachman, scheduled a match featuring Cody Rhodes vs Davari and told Cody; simply win, or go home. Even though his wrestling wasn’t great, Rhodes won his first match and retained the right to stay on Raw. While feuding with Davari on a regular basis, Cody also beat Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas in singles wrestling. Paul London and Brian Kendrick, feuding with Benjamin and Haas, joined the fray between Rhodes and Davari on the August 27th, 2007 edition of Raw in a six man tag team match. Cody won the match for his team, pinning Davari. A week later, Cody Rhodes teamed with Mickie James against Davari and Jillian Hall getting the win and showcasing one of his signature moves, the “Silver Spoon DDT”.
Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly
On September 24th, 2007, as punishment for attacking Randy Orton again on the previous weeks’ Raw show, Cody Rhodes found himself wrestling veteran Hardcore Holly. For the next three weeks, Cody Rhodes was out wrestled, slapped around, and punked out by Holly. His persistence over the weeks, however, impressed Holly enough team up with him. With his wrestling techniques improving dramatically due to teaming with this trainer and veteran, Rhodes and Holly earned the right for a WWE Tag Team Championship title match by defeating the teams of London-Kendrick and the Highlanders. When the title match arrived at Survivor Series, they were defeated by champions Cade and Murdoch. Trying to gain respect, Cody challenged Holly on the November 19th episode of Raw, finally winning his first match against his mentor. Randy Orton, however, came out at the end of the match and RKO’ed them both.The two continued as a team and on December 10th, 2007 on the 15th Anniversary Special edition of Raw, Rhodes and Holly won the Championships from Cade and Murdoch. In the weeks that followed, they had championship defendes against teams Cade and Murdoch, Santino Marella and Carlito, and London-Kendrick.
Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr
In a rematch for the WWE Tag Team titles on May 26th, 2008, London and Kendrick lost to champions Rhodes and Holly. But, after the match, The Million Dollar man appeared telling the duo that their days as champions were numbered. He then introduced his son, Ted DiBiase Jr. DiBiase, with a mystery partner, would challenge Rhodes and Holly for a title shot at the Night Of Champions. At the beginning of this match, DiBiase announced he would be wrestling two-on-one until his partner showed up and demanded Rhodes let Holly start the match. Holly, came into the ring to be immediately attacked by Rhodes and DiBiase got on the microphone to announce Cody as his new partner. DiBiase put Holly in the Million Dollar Dream and covered him to become one half of the new WWE Tag Team Champions. Rhodes and DiBiase successfully defended the titles until losing them on the August 4th, 2008 to John Cena and Batista. They regained the belts the following week and added another member to their montage named Manu. Rhodes and DiBiase continued their defense of the WWE Tag Team Championships, with Manu in tow. On the October 27th episode of Raw they lost the titles to Kofi Kingston and CM Punk. As Rhodes and DiBiase’s success grew, Randy Orton would show up backstage insulting the two. This lead Orton punting DiBiase in the head and putting him out of wrestling for a few months.
Cody Rhodes joins Legacy
Rhodes was drafted to Randy Orton’s team at the November 23rd, 2008 Survivor Series, in a classic elimination match that featured Randy and Cody as sole the survivors of the match and in the weeks that followed, Rhodes and Manu joined Orton’s new group “Legacy”. The trio debuted winning a two on three handicapped match against Batista and Triple H. The following weeks, Sim Snuka tried to join the Legacy group, so Randy created a series of wrestling matches that eliminated both Sunka and Manu from joining the new group. On January 12th, 2009, Snuka and Manu approach Rhodes trying to get him to help in a revenge plot against Randy Orton. Rhodes refused the offer and later in the show after wrestling Kane, Orton finds himself surrounded by Snuka, Manu, and Ted DiBiase. As the eventual fight ensues, DiBiase, turning on partners Snuka and Manu, joins Rhodes and Orton in Legacy. The trio feuded with Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon due to Randy Orton’s attack on the McMahon family. On July 6th, 2009, Rhodes was forced to compete by the Million Dollar Man in a singles match. After receiving “The World’s Strongest Slam” from Mark Henry, he was intentionally counted out as he retreated to the backstage area. At Night Of Champions, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. battled Chris Jericho, and a mystery partner (who turned out to be The Big Show) for the Unified Tag Team Championships. The match was well performed and showed Rhodes doing an uncharacteristic, but beautiful, moonsault from the top ropes. However, they did not win the belts, but continued doing Orton’s dirty work. Rhodes and DiBiase started a new feud with Triple H that brought Shawn Michaels and D-Generation X back to the ring. At SummerSlam, Cody and Ted faced DX and lost. But, things got really hairy on the August 31rst episode of Monday Night Raw when Dusty Rhodes worked with Legacy to trap John Cena and beatdown DX. During the celebration in the ring Randy Orton RKOed Dusty Rhodes out of no where, causing Cody to not only freak out, but leaving the fate of Legacy uncertain.
While Rhodes continues to gain ability in the ring and his involvement as a heel in Legacy helps his pro wrestling career by making him easily recognizable to us fans, I find Rhodes single persona rather boring. I’m hoping that he’s paying attention while with Randy Orton who, in my opinion, has a very limited “in-ring” wrestling ability, but is extremely good at selling himself. If Cody Rhodes can find a personality as good as his wrestling skills are, he will surpass legacies left by not only his brother Dustin, but even possibly his father.