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Since losing to Roman Reigns in 2023 at WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes has become one of the biggest babyfaces the company has seen. With a legion of Cody Crybabies to back The American Nightmare up, everything seemed to be going great. And then he won the title off Reigns at Mania XL, and it looks like the fans aren’t happy about that. While they cheered for Rhodes to finish his story, it seems they don’t really like their new champion. This is where a well-timed heel turn can revitalize things.

Whenever fans aren’t happy with a performer, the WWE often invokes a change in presentation and in this case, a heel turn. After all, heels can be more complex than a babyface. Now, one former WWE star opined how the promotion could instigate the heel turn.

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How Ryback would book Cody Rhodes’ heel turn

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As mentioned above, Cody Rhodes hasn’t received the crowd’s warmest welcome after becoming the new WWE Champion. From the ‘Thank you Roman’ chants to the online criticism for being boring, it is clear the WWE Universe wanted more from The American Nightmare. However, Ryback claims to know exactly how the WWE would turn the former AEW star heel. On his YouTube show, The Big Guy was talking to a fan live who claimed the WWE should turn Rhodes heel to bring more interest to the storyline. The former WWE Intercontinental champion agreed and explained how they would do so.

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According to him, the WWE should keep the title on Rhodes. Over the course of a year, they can start hinting at him not being the Golden Boy everyone believes him to be. Ryback explained, “The championship goes to his head, the fame, the money, the success; he used everybody to get what he wanted. It was never about his father, it was about him. That would be amazing.” While Ryback gets a bad rep online for his comments on social media, this would be the perfect way for the WWE to execute The American Nightmare’s heel turn.

He continued, “He just comes out one night and he’s like I didn’t do this for my dad, I did this for me. And his mom’s out there crying.” According to Ryback, this slow and methodical heel turn would resemble what Rhodes did in AEW. He added that The American Nightmare added passion and emotion to his storylines. This would be the perfect way to add depth to Rhodes’ title run while keeping it interesting. What did you think about this angle? Would you be interested? Tell us in the comments.

Written by

Christopher Paul

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Christopher Paul is a WWE reporter at EssentiallySports. With over eight years of experience as a writer and a childhood passion for pro wrestling, Chris is now a voice for kayfabe fans. He has a penchant for covering live events and enjoys breaking the latest developments in the WWE Universe.
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Edited by

Amal Joyce