Cody Rhodes Requests His Release

[Jack-Hammer]

Wrestlinginc.om has a report up stating that Cody Rhodes has requested his release from WWE. This looks to be legit as Cody himself took to Twitter stating:

"The past ten years have been quite the trek, but as of earlier today I have asked for my release from @WWE."

As far as why he requested the release:

"I'll speak further on the matter shortly. Thank you to all the pro-wrestling/sports entertainment fans worldwide. Thank you."

It's easy to forget that Rhodes has been in WWE for about a decade considering that he's still such a young man at only 30 years of age. Given his age and a lack of significant injury, it's entirely possible he could go elsewhere to potentially move higher up on the roster.

I don't know if Rhodes could've been a long term main eventer or not, but I would have liked to have seen him have the opportunity as he was always someone who had a ton of ability, personality and did his very best with what he was given, even if what he was given was crap. He had a strong mid-card career in WWE with 6 Tag Team and 2 Intercontinental Championship runs. He had some significant programs with guys like Randy Orton, Big Show, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, etc. and he'll be remembered as the guy who "brought back" the classic IC title design.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

I'm a bit shocked. He's been inconsistently on tv since the Stardust character went solo last year, and noticeably absent since WrestleMania.

Good for Cody for doing what he needs to do to be happy. I'm hoping he isn't quitting wrestling altogether, as he's about to become the top free agent in business if/when granted his release. Either Cody is unhappy with his direction or he's genuinely broken on the business due to the passing of his father, the American Dream.

Hopefully it's the former and Cody is looking to work in other promotions. As I said before, he's poised to be the top free agent in the world. He can go anywhere and hang with the top guys. Japan, Mexico, ROH, TNA, GFW, even Lucha Underground could make use of a talented performer with such a huge legacy behind him.

Cody's best work in WWE was when his Dashing character become the "deformed" Un-Dashing character. He garnered the most heat in this time period and brought back the original Intercontinental title design.

The unceremoniously dropped the mask and angle on an arbitrary Raw, and he was just kind of a-hole Cody who eventually grew a moustache. He seemed poised for the top again with a face turn and an angle against the Authority but quickly slipped into a midcard tag team role.

Of any of the big 2016 departures we've seen (Barrett, Sandow, Ryback soon probably) I'd say Cody was their biggest failing. Unlike Barrett, he mostly stayed healthy, and unlike all of them he was easily the best pure wrestler. Removing the Undashing gimmick was such a mistake as it had so much left in the tank.

Best of luck to Cody. As a far. I hope he doesn't give wrestling. As a human being, I wish him all the best.

 

[TJ Matics]

I remember reading his frequent comments about not wanting to go back to Cody Rhodes after his father's passing, which is a really tough position to be in... I understand him not wanting to milk anything from Dusty's death, but a character like Stardust can only do so much. I guess he could wrestle somewhere else with a whole new persona, but I really don't see too many people buying it. I never thought Rhodes would be main eventing Mania or anything but he was a dedicated talent, the dashing/undashing saga was his best work in my opinion.

Whatever he decides I wish him (and his wife if she's pulling an AJ) the best.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Surprised it actually happened but not really surprised as wwe has done a poor job of pushing him. Him and Sandow are both free to work elsewhere - this could be interesting. They worked great together so any company that can get both of them is going to have something good that will hopefully draw some attention.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Yeah, he had feuds with some big stars, even getting properly booked Mania matches against Orton, Big Show and Mysterio at a time when bundling everybody in a MITB match was hip as fuck.

He was given a shot and never properly got over. Maybe because he was in his fathers shadow, possibly even his brother. Alternatively he was nothing more than an adequate performer and a so-so promo.

 

[mkw1962]

I think Cody is a very talented wrestler, WWE just used him poorly. He did the best he could with what they gave him ( Stardust ) but you knew that would not last. I hate to see him go but it is probably best for him. The WWE is doing a terrible job with the writing right now. That is part of the reason for the low ratings. I think Cody going back to the dashing one and teaming with a soon to be returning Randy Orton would be cool in my opinion. It just looks like they are going to lose him just like what will happen to Ryback.

 

[BigBombB]

Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow...these are two actual talents that might make other promotions worth tuning into for me.

 

[Azane]

WWE probably wanted to write him out of the Stardust gimmick distastefully. and he's just fed up of being in his brother's shadow, when he was potentially way above it.

Cody had a couple of golden gimmicks, the Disfigured part of his Dashing Gimmick being one of my favorites, and I also liked when legacy split from RKO and he sort of gained his own identity instead of being Dibiase Jr's lesser half.

Cody also seems to still be griefed with the loss of his father, he still seems like he's a shell of his former self when he does anything outside the Stardust gimmick.

 

[hatehabsforever]

With all due respect, if he wishes to move on, I say go right ahead and I wish you the best in all of your future endeavors. He was a marginal talent at best who likely survived for as long as he has based upon name value to a large degree. I am not saying he wasn't talented, because of course he was. But he was a career mid carder who was likely never going to progress beyond where he had already reached. He certainly wasn't going anywhere as Stardust, which was played out ages ago. And he apparently didn't want to return to simply being Cody Rhodes.

I see this as being no loss whatsoever. For every Cody Rhodes occupying a position in the midcard, there is a new and upcoming guy ready, willing, and able to provide everything Cody can provide and then some. Maybe he wants to leave the business altogether. Maybe he wants to try his hand elsewhere (lol). And who knows, maybe he will return to WWE at some point in the future.

Frankly, if he were to leave WWE and there was no announcement regarding it, I doubt I would even notice he was even gone. Which speaks volumes in and of itself.

 

[dsotm5150]

I've always enjoyed Cody's in ring work, and is an incredibly talented guy. id be interested to know the reason behind his request to leave.

 

[Sean Valjean]

That's unfortunate. Cody has long been a consistently good performer and, most of all, one of the best gimmick wrestlers in recent history. He took some pretty outlandish characters in Stardust, Dashing, and "Dr. Doom" Rhodes and knocked them all out of the park. He even got a damn mustache over. I've always admired him for his ability to put 110% into anything that was given to him.

Cody was never going to be a main event guy, and he didn't need to be. He's had a pretty remarkable midcard run – especially considering I didn't think he'd last a year when he first debuted as Dusty's scrawny, green as grass kid to back his father against Randy Orton.

Priceless, Legacy, the DX feud, a couple of Wrestlemania singles matches (even Kofi and Ziggler don't have those), resurrecting the old-school IC title. And, of course, the AWESOME Rhodes brothers/Authority/Shield feud. His sweet Dashing entrance with the video screen mirror is still one of my favorite entrances. Cody has had quite a career compared to most midcarders.

I'll be sad to see him go, but I wish him nothing but the best. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to brush up on some of Dashing's grooming tips.

 

[NSL]

His name is enough to make people pay attention to wherever he goes...Personally, I'd love to see him turn up in Lucha Underground, because I think they'd respect his name and legacy, and give him a really cool angle as well.

No matter where he goes, he'll move higher up the card, and potentially "earn" his way back to WWE.

 

[adam]

He likely has a no compete clause in his contract for the WWE has no reason to allow him to leave and be a big star elsewhere.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Unfortunately theres not really many places to go now for someone who leaves WWE compared to back in the day, I miss the days where I would wonder if he would show up on WCW or ECW

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

JR claimed that he and Dolph Ziggler should quit the company IF they both didn't become World Champs in 2012. That didn't happen. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ziggler next. WWE will be forced to raid nxt because guys the wwe audience like are now being released or asking for their release. There are places for these guys to perform now, TNA can strengthen its roster, ROH can reap the benefits, NJPW can add these former WWE guys and make some $$$$. I wish Cody the best in whatever he does. He entertained me for years and I was disappointed he never got a shot at the MAIN EVENT because his in-ring work was always among the best in the company and he put 110% into any gimmick they gave him. Stardust would always cut some awesome promo and then be derailed by losing matches. You have a lot of fans Cody. You will be missed.

 

[dsotm5150]

He likely has a no compete clause in his contract for the WWE has no reason to allow him to leave and be a big star elsewhere.

The no compete clauses rarely last longer than 90 days

 

[LODemolition]

I will be sad to see Cody go. I always thought when the roster was split and there were 2 championships, that he should have been given a run with the World Heavyweight Championship on Smackdown. Back when he wore the mask after Mysterio broke his nose, that was the time I'll remember him most for. I thought he did well with the Stardust gimmick, but would have rather seen him continue going by his true name. Two things I think they dropped the ball on with him are this:

1. He and Goldust should have had a match at WrestleMania XXX. It would have opened the show if I were booking it. Yes, Bryan and Triple H was a great opener, but I would have gone a different route. I would have made it a retirement match with Dusty as the referee and this is how Goldust's WWE in-ring career would have come to an end.

2. I thought he and Randy Orton should have had a program for the World Title going into WM28. Just my opinion. The Cody/Big Show feud was awful and so was the Orton/Kane program. These 2 obviously had a lot of history together as two thirds of Legacy and yes they did meet in a triple threat at WM26, but I thought they should have elevated Cody and given him a WHC reign. If it didn't work, you could always go right back to Orton. Cody would have been a good choice for MITB winner the summer before, 2011 if my memory serves me correctly.

Hopefully this isn't the end of Cody's wrestling career. I think he could offer a lot to any organization as he's always been solid in the ring and decent on the mic. Either way, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him in WWE.

 

[Harthan]

It definitely is a shame that Cody Rhodes will end his WWE career like this. This recent round of releases has really been highlighted by a lot of guys who just couldn't break past a combination of bad booking and injuries (Barrett, Sandow, and now Rhodes) to live up to their potential. Rhodes in particular seems like potentially the total package - he has made tons of gimmicks work - Dashing Cody Rhodes, the disfigured Cody Rhodes, Legacy as a cocky heel, the Brotherhood, and to a lesser degree, Stardust - he can form a real connection with the audience (one need look no further than his feud with the Authority), and he can really go in the ring. I just don't know what they thought would happen with this Stardust thing with the lack of support they gave to it. You can't give a guy a gimmick as silly as Stardust and just have him lose constantly without turning him into exactly what he's becoming - a total jobber. Rhodes is just way too talented to be jobbing anywhere right now and if the creative wasn't going to put him into a position to succeed, I see why he would want to move on.

I hope that Rhodes' choice is to go elsewhere and try his talents - I think he could be successful in basically any wrestling company in the world. Look at what Drew Galloway has done since moving to TNA (and the indies), for example - he's transitioned from a total joke of a jobber to a very successful and respected wrestler. Rhodes could definitely have the same career trajectory if he chose that. I think he could also immediately step in as a relevant heavyweight in New Japan if he chose - whether that were to be as a heel (he could likely pull off a role in the Bullet Club) or as a face (his family legacy alone would likely earn him a great deal of respect abroad). I think it's really a shame his WWE career is ending with so much left undone - I absolutely believe Rhodes was a few smart booking decisions away from being a world champion on several occasions - but the next chapter could be awesome for him if he chooses to go on in the wide world of wrestling and carve himself a piece of it.

 

[Navi]

I'm not surprised to hear this at all. Maybe after the death of his father his heart just wasn't in the business anymore, we have no idea how much it affected him.

He made every gimmick they handed him work, even though I wasn't a huge fan of Stardust. Personally it kind of creeps me out when people jump out at you and hiss in your face. It's sad to see him go, but probably better this way. Nothing says he won't come back in the future, but for some reason I don't see him going to another company to work. He wasn't like Sandow or some of the others. Just by name alone he had a job for life with Vince. Let's face it the Rhodes are a WWE family, and I think he'll respect it, and be really surprised if he pops up somewhere else.

 

[Blade]

Eh. His finest moment was defeating the Shield for the tag titles with Goldust. And even then, Cody was likely the weak link of that angle and that match.

Apart from that, Cody hasn't actually done anything. He's been given chances, and seemed incapable of making a real connection with the audience, much like Ted Dibiase Jr. If you can be in a Wrestlemania angle with Rey Mysterio back before the crowd turned on him, and it doesn't connect with the audience, then there's a problem. And the problem, I believe, was Cody.

So yeah, not losing any sleep over this one.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

For those saying it's cos of Dusty, it's very possible.

Look at it this way - The Runnels have always had a dysfunctional family life. Cody wasn't around Dustin much growing up as he and Dusty were feuding legit but it seemed to resolve and for a very short time the 3 were not only together all the time on the road, but enjoying themselves... It showed in The Brotherhood team and those moments with Dusty onscreen how much fun they were all having together. Add Eden into that mix and you can imagine it being the best time of Cody's life.

Dustin is close to retirement, if not already on the list for release... and it's plausible that Cody just doesn't want to be there without Dustin. It could be a Jerry style situation where his wife might be being released... or he could have just decided that nothing he can do in the business is going to top that time his family were all together.

Grief affects us all in different ways and sometimes it brings permanent changes. Perhaps Cody has decided he'd rather have a family that avoids the drama the business can bring to it and that affected his childhood so much.

It's a shame but whatever the story ends up being, if he's leaving on his own terms then it can only be a good thing for the man... if not the business... WWE are losing a good one, if not a great one... and in that 9 years he's done enough to get a HOF nod down the line. Overall he's done amazingly well for such a relatively short run.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Speculation about his motivations are pointless.

I'm very fond of Cody. Of his contemporaries who are still around - Sheamus, Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, etc. - he's the one who was least likely to inspire more than total indifference in me. Well, perhaps I'm being a little harsh on Sheamus.

Cody was in the habit of having surprisingly great matches - every few years. In 2009, you had him tagging with Ted DiBiase at Breaking Point and putting on a very good submission match with Shawn Michaels and Triple H that should, like most things in 2009, have been absolutely diabolical. In 2011, on the back of the excellent "deformed" gimmick, he had a mercilessly fun falls count anywhere match with Rey Mysterio at Extreme Rules. Two years later, with a pattern emerging, Cody had possibly his best match; the fantastic tag match in which the Rhodes Brothers defeated Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns to save their careers. If my maths is correct, I missed a really good Cody Rhodes match at some point last year.

So farewell, sweet prince. I'll miss that sweet moonsault, that sick disaster kick and that weird springboard arse attack. Just not massively.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

- Superstars- won't be the same without Stardust. I hope all the best for Cody Rhodes, the WWE had absolutely nothing to offer him as of late...or even the last few years. Currently at the lower than low card, can't blame him for leaving if there is no chance of moving up. Zack Ryder is beating him for crying out loud. He'll probably be TNA Champion in a few months time as Cody The Maniac Rhodes.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

Wow, the rats are scurrying and leaving the WWE in droves these days eh? Barrett, Titus O'Neil, Cody and most likely Rybach and Ziggler next. Can't say as I blame them. These cats bust their arses and Vince/WWE Creative wants them to job to garbage from NXT. Good for Cody and good for all those cats!

The WWE locker room is imploding before our very eyes! SMH.

 

[TJ Matics]

An excerpt of his released statement:

In the past 6-months I had pleaded with WWE Creative adn both of my bosses to let me roll-the-dice and once again be Cody Rhodes. I had pitched to every writer on the staff like a door-to-door salesman on “how” & “why” & “when”…and believe me, there are many of those who sought to help me (Brian James, Nick, Faz, J Russo, Dave K, JBL&Cole for letting me go wild on their YouTube show and a few others I’m sure) but for all that, both “head writers” of RAW & Smackdown (one pretending to be Brian Gewirtz and the other too busy hitting on developmental divas) continued to not return my pitches or e-mails, and in face-to-face encounters tried to big league me by pretending to be on their clearly powered-off laptops…barely willing to listen to an idea I considered beneficial to more than one talent. What’s that expression? Don’t take no for an answer…what do you do when you don’t get an answer at all?
Read more at http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/711...reative-frustrations-more#GC6gj46ZVKzhZTMX.99

I guess I was essentially worked by the comments I spoke of earlier since he was basically pleading to go back to Cody Rhodes. It's always a bummer when you hear these kinds of reports on mishandling talents, yes there's two sides to every story (well, 3) but I don't believe Rhodes has anything to gain from flinging fake dirt.

Again, I wish him all the best.