Home

WWE

What Is Cody Rhodes’ Story? Here Is Everything You Need to Know Before WrestleMania XL

Published 04/01/2024, 4:45 AM EDT

Follow Us

Ever since he joined WWE, it has been Cody Rhodes‘ dream to bring the WWE Championship home. This was to complete the achievement that his father could never achieve during his prime years. Dusty Rhodes‘ son eventually left WWE, making everyone think that Rhodes had perhaps given up on his father’s dream. However, he returned to the leading wrestling promotion in 2022, eyes set all over the price.

The American Nightmare started feuding against Roman Reigns in 2023 after he won the Royal Rumble that year. Since then, his ‘story’ has been discussed among the fans. Because of how long this feud has been going on, fans have lost sight of what the ‘story’ was all about. We are here to remind you as WrestleMania XL draws closer with each passing day.

Cody Rhodes’ story started with his father’s career

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Dusty Rhodes is still well-recognized as an esteemed legend in the pro wrestling industry. The late wrestler wrestled for many promotions during his prime time. This allowed ‘Papa Rhodes’ to win many championships while he was in the business. Unfortunately, one championship that he couldn’t get his hands on was the WWE Championship. The closest that The American Dream ever came to the WWE Championship was when he wrestled against Superstar Billy Graham at Madison Square Garden in New York City. During the TV show, Graham was defending the WWF Heavyweight Title against Dusty.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest WWE stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

Although during this September 26th, 1977 match, Rhodes defeated Graham, his celebration to win the title was short-lived. Graham was eliminated when he was thrown out of the ring by Dusty Rhodes. Although this was enough for the late wrestler to win, the rules specified that the championship could not change hands if the champion was eliminated through a ring-out.

Dusty Rhodes’ dream to win the WWE Championship did not manifest itself during his pro wrestling run. This is when his youngest son decided to step in and accomplish his father’s dreams.

Cody Rhodes’ first ‘great’ attempt to win the championship

After running an indie circuit for several years and working to hone his talent, Cody Rhodes rejoined WWE in 2022. The top star immediately had to take a hiatus because of a severe pectoral injury during his infamous Hell in a Cell match the same year.

The American Nightmare returned to the Stamford-based company in 2023 as a surprise 30th entrant during the Royal Rumble.

The former AEW EVP won the PLE. He eventually demanded to wrestle against The Tribal Chief and win his Universal Championship to fulfill his father’s dream. After a long series of dramatic promos and face-offs, the two wrestlers had a title bout at WrestleMania 39.

Unfortunately, Cody Rhodes couldn’t predict the antics that The Bloodline would play during the biggest PLE of 2023. As a result, he fell victim to the notorious stable and lost the match against Roman Reigns. Since fans were already invested in this storyline, they predicted that this wouldn’t be the end for him.

This gave birth to the ‘finish your story’ motto, giving Rhodes another shot at the championship in the future. A WWE legend also predicted the same after Rhodes lost the match. WWE ended up accepting this narrative.

WWE paves the way for Cody Rhodes in his quest to ‘finish his story’

Despite what went down at WrestleMania 39, WWE pushed Cody Rhodes to become a top star in the company. The audience also supported him, making him one of the biggest babyfaces in the current active roster of WWE. The leading wrestling promotion led the narrative that Cody Rhodes was building up to wrestle against his arch-nemesis at the next WrestleMania. This was further confirmed when he was chosen to be the face of WWE 2k24. The video game also had the tagline: “Finish the story“.

Furthermore, the 38-year-old won Royal Rumble this year, making it his consecutively second win. The superstar was expected to go up against the Samoan wrestler until he gave up this decision for The Rock.

This creative decision was highly criticized by many fans. Even a WWE top star spoke on the same. Eventually, the creative department, along with Cody Rhodes, came to their senses, winning him the feud back.

With a few twists on the road, the WWE legend’s son is back on track and focused on his goal again.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Will Cody Rhodes be able to win the rematch?

So far, fans have predicted that the promotion will let Cody Rhodes win the Undisputed Championship this year at Mania. However, when Shawn Michaels was interviewed on the Busted Open Podcast, he had some other views on the storyline. The WWE legend supported Cody Rhodes’ victory at Mania but still put forward the possibility that the promotion may book the result opposite to what fans have predicted.

With good reasoning, HBK suggested that WWE should let the babyface ‘finish his story’ otherwise the promotion will be on a “big decline“. Is this the former wrestler’s way of confirming that Cody Rhodes will bring the title home from Philly?

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

‘Big Decline’: Cody Rhodes Potential WrestleMania XL Fate Laid Out by WWE Hall of Famer

Comment below to show your excitement for Cody Rhodes’ story so far.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Kaif Ali

1,373Articles

One take at a time

Kaif Ali is a pro wrestling writer at EssentiallySports and a massive WWE enthusiast. Currently pursuing an English degree, Kaif has started his career off strong, having written 1000+ articles at ES. As a huge Dwayne Johnson and John Cena stan, he loves covering their antics both on and off the small screen.
Show More>

Edited by:

Amal Joyce