It’s fairly common for wrestlers to get repackaged with different gimmicks if something isn’t working out with their current character. Bray Wyatt was once the generic monster heel Husky Harris, The Rock once went by Rocky Maivia, even Ryback was good ole boy Skip Sheffield once upon a time – just to name a few.
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One of the most captivating characters in the WWE right now has to be the bizarre and comic book-influenced Stardust, played by the son of late, great “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Cody Rhodes. Before donning the facepaint and crazy persona of Stardust, Rhodes went through several character changes, but each time personified that particular gimmick and just straight up owned it. Today, we’re going to look at the history of Rhodes’ gimmicks and why they worked. Also why his name will go down as one of the most versatile superstars in WWE’s history.
Rhodes Establishing His Own Legacy
Cody was already on the main roster by the time he teamed up with Ted DiBiase, Jr (the Jr was later dropped), but it was adding in Randy Orton, Manu, and Simย Snukaย that things were starting to form. After a few months, the trio of Orton, DiBiase, and Rhodes formed The Legacy, a faction of second and third-generation wrestlers. It’s interesting to note that this was Orton’s moment as leader as he went full circle from being billed as “the future” in Evolution, to now being the big star among his group. The Legacy didn’t last too long and Rhodes was just starting to develop his character as an entitled, narcissistic individual, which led into his next persona.
The Dashing One
The “Dashing One”
Cody was already on his way establishing himself as a vain and cocky character that evolved into “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes was the typical narcissistic archtype of character wrestling fans have seen before with the likes of Lexย Luger, Rick Martel, Chris Masters, even Mark Jindrakย — it’s a go-to gimmick that works well enough to get people over in the beginning of their career. Rhodes would do these grooming tips vignettes that had him talk down to his audience, while praising himself as being perfect looking. Simplistic in thought, but he executed this so well.ย
Doctor Doom Cody Rhodes
During a match with Rey Mysterio, Rhodes’ nose was legitimatelyย broken, which led him to drop the “Dashing” part of his name that allowed Rhodes to show his darker side. In an interview with Marvel, Rhodes compared his character to Dr. Doom.
“I have all these influences without realizing them myself sometimes. For example, I really wanted to do a lot of mic work along the way to WrestleMania and as I was cutting promos I felt very comfortable in the suit and tie, but then one week decided I wanted to add the mask. That addition made it all pop and reminded me of characters like Doom and The Red Skull, guys who are all business but hide something hideously wrong with them.”ย
Rhodes would beat his opponentย and put their face in a paper bag afterwards. Again, taking something that had been played out before, but adding a certain missing element to it that really sold the gimmick. This was also around the time, he brought back the classic Intercontinental Championship design, which is still used today.ย
The Rhodes Scholars
Aligning himself with Damien Sandow, the two became Team Rhodes Scholars, feuding with various tag teams on their quest to become champions. During a match with Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan), Rhodes was concussed, but when he made his return he was sporting this Dapper Dan type of mustache. The mustache became his entire gimmick and he would talk about bringing the mustache back and making it appealing once more. Again, Rhodes did his best to make something so simple get over. He even had shirts that was based around his facial hair. This lasted almost a year, but after Rhodes Scholars mutually dissolved, it allowed Rhodes to pair with this brother, Goldust.
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Like Father Like Son – Stardust
Cody soon assumed the mantle of Stardust. Stardust was a name his father used while in AWA, but gave it a cosmic and eerie spin to it and made it is own. Usually the straight man, Cody broadened his range by doing Goldust-type of mannerisms and gave bizarre promos along with his brother. Since June of last year, Gold and Stardust captured the tag team championships, but now Cody, who only answers to Stardust in interviews, is breaking out on his own. Stardust is currently feuding with one ofย WWE’sย newest prospects, Neville, as well Arrow star Stephen Amell, giving some of his best promos to date. ComicBook.com was even able to interview Stardust a few months backย about the character and the comic book roots behind it.ย
Since his debut 8 years go, Cody Rhodes has been given a range of characters to portray, but remaining over with the fans the entire time. Rhodes has made no bones about being a comic book fan and this looks to be the closest we’ve seen from WWEย since The Hurricane with such comic book inspirations.ย
Do you think Stardust works as a gimmick? Have you been enjoying his antics and taunts to Amell? Was there a gimmick for Rhodes that you thought worked better for him? Let us know in the comments.ย
