Cody Rhodes

[mizfan]

I don't think I necessarily agree there Ollie, I think AEW has an exceptionally strong upper midcard full of folks who could dip into either singles title scene even if they aren't necessarily going to be world champion. The issue in my eyes as far as Cody is ever since he dropped the TNT title, he hasn't hardly interacted with anyone on that level. He was so successful in late 2019 and pretty much all of 2020, but 2021 has been so rough for him. First he fell into the convoluted Shaq feud which seemed to have nothing to do with him, then just floated until getting into the feud with QT which was a guaranteed loser because QT, even though I enjoy him, is seen as nothing but a jobber and a buddy of Cody, so it was dead from the start, as was the Agogo thing as soon as Cody make the huge blunder of the US vs. UK promo, a tremendous misreading of the room. For like 4 months that feud dragged on with Cody not always even being around, a real heat killer for him. At that point it was more than 6 months of crowd killing moments, so matching him up against a guy everyone was excited to see like Black? The boos were inevitable.

I still think at this point there's an intentional factor to it, seems unlikely a guy like Cody comes out in a dorky super hero outfit to face off the cool darkness guy and then is caught by surprise by a negative reaction. Whether whatever he has in mind is worth it, well, that's something we still have to see. If he really does just double down on the same act and expect the recapture the cheers, well, then he's far dumber than I would have thought.

[Benjamin Button]

A tremendous misreading is correct. I really question his judgement. The neck tattoo, the ring attire, the people pleasing. I think it’s more bad judgement than deliberate. He’s also thought heels and faces were no longer needed and Brandi does heel and face stuff all in one episode.

His public apology was really a nail in his casket to make him look like a weenie. But people pleasing in AEW might not be a choice because the fans are bigger than the wrestlers.

[Powder]

the fans are bigger than the wrestlers.

In both the figurative and the literal.

[Benjamin Button]

I think fans are bullies, picking on all those little 110 pound gymnasts.

[PEN15v2]

I didn't think anyone had more vitriol for AEW than me, but BenButton definitely has more glee in bashing the Elite than I ever have.

[Benjamin Button]

I’m looking out for them. Don’t want to see a size average fan kick their ass.

[Benjamin Button]

Well it happened in the WWE first, but it looks like these fans are now whooping on these little guys. I was afraid of this.

[Team Farrell]

I mean, Seth was blindsided and put the guy in a front face lock before the refs broke it up. What more do you want? Should he have beaten the guy's face in on national TV and gotten everyone involved sued?

[Benjamin Button]

No, I was only kidding.

[Benjamin Button]

Vince McMahon will make him remove that terrible neck tattoo, I’m sure

[PEN15v2]

Vince hired Tyson Tomko years back. Terrible tattoos aren't his concern

[Powder]

And Lord Tensai.

[Prime Time]

Guess this belongs in here now, huh?

[Team Farrell]

That makes sense!

Amazing what a new environment can do, isn't it? Cody went from not well liked and and feeling about as far from a star as possible, to being massively over and probably the number one babyface in the company overnight.

Now, to be fair, he also seems less distracted by outside ventures and is being programmed with top talent as opposed to trying to get Nightmare Factory students over.

As much as I despise WWE's terrible production, he even looks visually more like a star that he has in AEW in two years.

[Powder]

I am watching Cody Rhodes on the Broken Skulls Sessions, and Cody is so dry, and Businesslike. He does not seem like an active wrestler.