Cody Rhodes.... Too Generic?

[Mustang Sally]

Actually, it's kind of refreshing reading this topic, in which many folks are agreeing that Cody is bland and uninspiring. For a couple of years, I've been reading posts talking about what a great wrestler he is.......and realizing that how one is regarded as a performer has everything to do with how Creative is treating him/her.

I'm hesitant to throw Drew McIntyre at you again (but I'm going to, anyway). On this board, I've read multiple posts proclaiming that Drew is terrible and Cody is great. Really, though, what definable difference is there between the two? Both are young, have terrific physiques, do fine work in the ring..... and have rather bland personalities. The only thing I can see to separate them is that the writers (through management) have provided Cody with tons of material to work with, from featured tag teams to narcissism to paper bags over the head, while Drew sits around waiting for something to be thrown his way.

What Cody has done to earn such preferential treatment is unknown to me (a famous father?), but if it's eventually decided he's not going to make it as a top-tier performer, it won't be because no one ever gave him a chance.

Some of you in this topic have pointed out that Cody hasn't done much these past months. That's true, and it's illustrative of the notion that when he isn't being pushed to the stars, there's not all that much to him. He's a good ring performer, but so are a lot of other folks.

In presence, I think Cody and Drew are strikingly similar......but in impact, they're amazingly different because one is favored and the other is kept in the twilight zone.

Don't ever think a performer makes it all by himself. He needs the machine behind him to get noticed in the first place......and no one is a better example of that than Cody Rhodes.

 

[Pegusus Fill_T]

The worst thing they did to him was take that mask off (yeah yeah it was VERY uncomfortable for him) and more importantly take away that evilness he possessed. Let's face it cocky heels are done to death. He needs to be that 'evil' Cody again. At the sametime, I think he shouldve won the MITB not Ziggler. Ziggler is almost Orton's age whereas Cody is much younger and a better talker than Ziggler. He and a couple of other 20 odd year olds should be groomed to take over from Cena/Orton and to a lesser extent Punk & Sheamus when those 4 guys hang their boots. A bit of a darker edge and Cody will be good to go

 

[Dagger Dias]

Oof. I really enjoy reading your posts, Dagger, but I can't disagree more here. I've read before that Cody is a big comic book fan and based his Disfigured gimmick on super-villains. I can't help but make the connection to "Super Cena," whose strong moral base and incredible acts of strength, of course, lead to comparisons to Superman. And what about people like Kane? Undertaker? Mankind? Sting? The Ultimate Warrior? Rey Mysterio? All of these characters have similarly exaggerated gimmicks/personalities/appearances, etc. and have had World Title reigns.

Well, the difference between guys like Kane, Undertaker, Mankind, Sting, and Ultimate Warrior compared to Rhodes' two previous personas is that even if they were something increddibly different from traditional characters is that they were still believable as top tier competitors. You brought up Rey as well. My issues with him were always more due to a Cruiserweight contending for a HEAVYWEIGHT title, and that's a topic for another thread. I had no problem with his WWE Championship reign, the whole ultimate underdog thing works and made more sense under that championship. Like I said though, that's a topic for another thread. Rey was more believable than Dashing or Disfigured Rhodes would be as a top tier competitor, and that's coming from someone who dislikes Rey.

Dashing Cody was 100% a midcard character. I enjoyed that persona and wished he had stayed in it, but he can be taken more seriously now. I was NOT a fan of his Disfigured persona. I thought it was incredibly stupid and overstayed its welcome, but I did understand that it was better for him in order to advance than Dashing Cody was. His current persona takes that one step further, he comes off as a legit threat now. Under the Disfigured persona he was an annoying guy wearing a weird clear mask handing out paper bags, I don't see that as World Championship material, but I can agree to disagree. Someone else (if you don't) will inevitably bring up his wins or lack thereof this year. When have win/loss ratios other than Undertaker's streak EVER been that big of a deal in WWE? Cody's push is firmly intact and he is on his way toward the top of the card, it's just happening a lot slower with him than most pushes we as fans are used to these days. He'll benefit in the long run from it. I still think this character is better for him in order to be more believable.

I feel like being interesting, even (or perhaps especially) at the expense of being believable, is the only way to truly succeed as champion--that's why Jack Swagger, for instance, failed. He instantly became a generic, slow-speaking, suit-wearing heel, and everyone stopped caring. That's what's happening with Cody, now, too.

I still maintain my stance that Swagger failed due to bad booking. His feuds with Big Show and Orton proved he could main event. Fans stopped caring when he was given nothing to do after Kane took over the championship scene following MITB. He did nothing until Wrestlemania season where he (kayfabe) trained an announcer to wrestle when he should have been the one in the match himself, and then they did nothing with him again until he got put into a tag team where Ziggler overshadowed him. It was the booking, man. Bad booking ruined Swagger when he had a few chances to still make it.

 

[Ryberg]

Cody is probably the most bland boring non-jobber on the WWE main roster today. I never got why the IWC loved the guy. He is TERRIBLE on the mic and average at best in the ring. I think had his father not be "helping" his push behind the scenes, he'd probably be just like DiBiase, Jr. or out right on Superstars if not cut.

Wow he held the belt for close to a record, HELD is the key word. I mean how many times did he actually defend it?

I will be the first to admit I was wrong about Ziggler. I pictured them both way overrated. Ziggler to me is still a poor man's wanna be Curt Hennig/Rick Rude and really nothing special. But he can at least put on a great show.

Cody on the other hand can't even put on a good match to save his life.

 

[The ShIT Factor]

Cody, Cody, Cody, don't even get me started on him! Ever since he got the disfigured gimmick he started to become a cookie cutter heel. He talks slow and interferes in matches, thats like heel actions 101. He has crisp in ring ability, but he needs to stand out from the pack. I used to be a big Cody Rhodes supporter, but right now he has let me down. If can gain better mic skills he could be a future world champ, if he stays like this though he will fall into the Drew Mcyintre trap.

 

[R.K.O]

WWE seem to not have a direction for Cody at all, and is dropping the ball with him which is really frustrating because he's one of the best talents they got at the moment. Cody has been great with the gimmicks they have gave him, but the disfigured gimmick was the one he had really shone. he was unpredictable, unstable, unique and was drawing good heel during his feud with Rey and the likes. Ted Dibiase got a huge pop by attacking Rhodes which showed how good a heel Cody was. Everyone saw a bit of Mankind in him that time which was a good indication of his growth.

But after they took the mask off him, which I understand because everyone was wondering why was it taking so long for his face to heal. He showed signs of being still mentally disfigured with the combination of the dashing gimmick which I thought was interesting. But later on he moved on to feud with Booker T I thought he was going to be somewhat like the Legend Killer gimmick Randy Orton had. But no, then he proceed to the feud with Big Show which I thought was ridiculous. Yes the video packages was funny but what does it do to his character? What gimmick was he trying to portray? From that point on he seemed to be really generic and it continues till now. It got even worse when he lost the Intercontinental Championship because that was what his character was all about. Now he just seems generic, going nowhere and he was even on Superstars a few weeks ago.

Why is WWE failing so badly at characters? Not only Cody, even the thing the did with CM Punk when they transition his pipebomb character to Voice of Voiceless made no sense, at one point he was berating the fans then the next he speaks out for them? Cody is such a massive talent and I hope WWE stops dropping the ball with him. Give him a character, a gimmick or even a moniker would be a start. Do something meaningful instead of throwing him into random matches with Sheamus.

 

[RhodesOrRiot]

I will say heels in general are bland. I dont blame the wrestlers for that. That is something I blame the WWE for, the WWE never forces the issue like they used to do to get heat on the guys and with Cody he had several gimmick changes but I feel like this one is the best he can actually look relevant in the main event picture he couldn't with his "dashing" or "grotesque" gimmicks. He is good on the mic and in the ring and he can show that off with this current character.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

Cody Rhodes is a great talent! He is great in the ring, He can talk on the mic. He has love and passion for the wrestling business. But, his character is dull and boring for my taste. I think the WWE should let him be himself, not a guy who talks slow. I think he will be in the main event scene in year or two, maybe that would be an enough time to build on his character or something.

 

[chunk006]

For Me the 'Disfigured' Gimmick actually worked for someone who's initial generic gimmick was to be dashing ( when he is clearly not ) it put a nice differect swerve on the whole thing...People got into the whole thing and wanted to be bagged...

Since this all we see is his awful sleeveless robe which shouts out Mid-Card followed by good in ring work but you could say half the roster can produce decent work inside the ring but have no push due to lack of reaction and connection with the crowd - good or bad...

 

[@smarkmouth]

I'm quite surprised by the amount of people saying Cody is boring. To me, I find him one of the most entertaining guys on the roster, but he's currently without direction right now. His feud with Booker T was the most entertaining mid card feud I've seen in years. Booker and creative both deserve major credit for making that work, but Cody was very strong in his role as well.

I won't disagree that his character needs 'tweaking', but a new gimmick needs to be out of the question. Gimmicks no longer fly in the main event scene. Characters do, and that's what Cody has going from him. He's a person now, not a mask.

Not to start any questions of semantics, but I don't see him as generic. I see his as an old school heel, and playing it in spades.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

I think Cody Rhodes THE CHARACTER is too generic, not the person.

Ever since Cody lost the mask & title, he is basically his old "Dashing" gimmick. Not only do I think this was played out but every other young guy is the same thing!

Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, Antonio Cesaro, even Wade Barrett to an extent all have that SAME CHARACTER! All are just arrogant young guys with money or good looks that think they deserve everything & it should be handed to them on a silver platter. The gimmick get's old and it's clear that guys like Ziggler & Del Rio pull it off better.

When Cody had the mask, he had that "special something". That extra something that made him different & unique. Even with his "classic" IC title, he still seemed to have something that set him apart. Like he was starting a movement. Not he just seems to be following it.

Rhodes is great! But I worry without some character & gimmick changes soon, his career could be in jeporady.

 

[HBsam31]

I also think he has become generic. I tend to agree with Mustang Sally as to the why he has become boring part. When he was "Dashing" and "Disfigured" he was cutting regular promos, and was somewhat of a focal point in one way or the other. He got a chance to show what he can do is what I am saying. Whether you liked him or not he was improving. When he ditched the disfigured gimmick we were to believe they were positioning him to get ready for the main event step. That is the part that never happened. I felt that he should have never lost the IC title to Show only to win it right back. His downturn seemed to have started there as he has not been really featured the same way since. His promo time has been cut back for sure, and the quality wins are not exactly build up. So as Sally said it is not all his fault as creative has seemed to have lost interest in him currently. It can't all be blamed on him if the WWE isn't using him as well as they had been in the past. I was one of the people that thought he would have had at least a title opportunity by now, and it's evident that he is no where near that. I would like to see creative stick with a guy for a change and see what happens then. So while yes Cody is a bit generic right now I don't blame it all on him.