Cody/Stardust

[DCLXVI]

Last night the storyline of Stardust turning on Goldust finally progressed - with Dusty Rhodes showing up to talk to his boys and get them on the same page. It went pretty much as you would expect, with Stardust eventually hitting the Crossrhodes on Goldust after he loses the match and walking to the back. Stardust cuts a pretty good promo on Dusty Rhodes and says he's an embarrassment and it isn't his father.

Well, they finally got a little bit of worthwhile screen time for the story and it all fell pretty flat. The crowd really didn't not seem to care on a mostly otherwise loud audience. I wrote a thread on here several months ago during their lengthy, boring feud with the Uso's called "Stardust - Falling Flat?" or something like that. I really, really liked the character when Cody first debuted it and it was like a breath of fresh air. Along the way it has gotten pretty silly, with him basically booked as a non-threatening prankster type character.

I have to say, this seems to be a disservice to Cody to keep him as Stardust after the Dust Brothers inevitable upcoming Pay-Per-View breakup match. Something is just not working, or several things I can't quite put my finger on. He's a good promo, still young, good looking dude, and comes from a great wrestling family. The Stardust character is a little over the top and non-threatening to be a "insane Heel" type with what they are doing now. The Stardust suit also makes him look really small and skinny up against other guys, maybe a nitpick. My favorite incarnation of Cody was the "disfigured Cody" era with the plastic faceguard and it doesn't seem like he's found his place since.

I'm starting to ramble, but I guess my real question is what do you think about Cody/Stardust almost a year into the gimmick, and what is the answer to make him work?

 

[kadroan]

He was on the right path fall 2013, feuding with The Authority over his job. I thought he deserved to headline a PPV with Orton after his feud with Sandow ended. Since they're making him heel again, he needs to get some heat. Join The Authority. He could get heat from picking on his brother, beating up Dusty, maybe he could get a feud with Orton after Orton is done with Rollins. They just don't need to have Cody feud with Goldust without a long-term plan otherwise he's no different than Titus O'Neil after PTP broke up.

 

[Navi]

Cody Rhodes is an enigma of sorts. Here you have this good looking, not badly built wrestler. He's good in the ring, fast, energetic, high flyer when he wants, and his finisher's aren't that bad. Plus he comes from a great wrestling heritage and it shows.

The Dust brothers were a good tag team in a division that sorely needs good teams. The chemistry they had was excellent, and Goldust can really go for a guy of his longevity. I think that the rumour mill is correct in that Goldust is thinking of hanging it up. The guy has been around for 20 years now, and maybe it's time to have a life away from the ring.

So maybe that's why the breakup is now. Give them a chance to have a short feud leading to Mania, and then we'll see the last of Goldust. Cody Rhodes on the other hand what do you do with him?

The Stardust character only really works with Goldust. Otherwise he's just another nutter running around in a latex suit wearing face paint. And like someone else mentioned, when he's wearing that suit, he comes off looking small and very skinny, not so believable up against someone like Reigns.

Rhodes is more of a cruiserweight than anything else, so he'll fit well within the mid card, but it's a shame really because he is very talented. I could see him going for a mid card belt at some point, but he'll never be main event material. Not now with who they have on the roster, the Shield guys, Rusev and some of the up and comers. So yea I'm afraid he'll languish around on the card, maybe part of a tag team here or there, but that's about all she wrote for him.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I have to say, this seems to be a disservice to Cody to keep him as Stardust after the Dust Brothers inevitable upcoming Pay-Per-View breakup match.

I understand what you're saying, yet I believe keeping him as Stardust is probably the best destiny for Cody. Playing just plain old Cody Rhodes, he was so bland it was boring to watch; even more so because they kept giving him gimmick after gimmick (Disfigured! .... Dashing!) and none of it particularly worked because Cody's personality is totally vanilla. As face or heel, it didn't make any difference.

As Stardust, at least he has something to present besides his boring self. He seems to be into what he's doing; it must be easier to play a fairy tale character than a "normal" human being.....and the best part is he doesn't need his brother to continue putting the act over.

I don't think Stardust is headed for main event status any more than was Cody, yet it's a useful role for a guy the company plainly intends to keep. A forum member was saying the other day that no one had played the Doink the Clown character in years......but Cody is Doink, and if anyone cares for another round of that sort of thing......it's there for the taking.

 

[OYDK]

I disagree. The ONLY time I have personally found Stardust entertaining has been these last few weeks, when his "psychotic" side really began to come out. Sure he was crazy before this, but more "ha-ha look at that goofball" crazy, than "oh shit that guy can kill you" crazy. In fact, the only time I really found myself connecting with Cody Rhodes at all was after the promo he cut Monday, which is great as I love to be invested in as many people as possible.

How to make him work is to just keep this dark side of the moon thing going for Stardust. Cody by himself is vanilla as vanilla gets imo, but it seems others liked him as Cody. I think he's really got something with this version of Stardust.

 

[Judah's Lion]

I have been saying for a few years now that the Goldust/Cody Rhodes feud and match was a missed opportunity for Mania 28. at that time, Cody was the IC Champion and had just finished a feud with Goldie's former tag partner Booker T. a Title vs. Career Match could have been great at that time.

that said, it's hard not to be impressed with Goldie's final run here. his match vs. Orton on Raw was really good and teaming with Cody has been so much fun. they've had a couple of good runs with the belts and some terrific feuds and matches with the Shield, Uso's and others.

all that to say, for years I've thought that this feud has been 3 years too late. but now, I'm thinking that a match between the two, with Hall of Famer dad Dusty Rhodes as the guest referee at WrestleMania this year would be amazing. let Goldie have his last match with his dad and his brother. I know from reading his autobiography that this would mean the absolute world to Dustin Runnels and it would be a real honest feel good moment that simply doesn't happen too often in wrestling.

afterwards, I'd personally keep Cody as the Stardust character. it's colorful and different, could play heel or face equally well, and it would almost be a homage to brother Goldie for as long as he wants to do it.

either way, sign me up for this story. I'm a fan!

 

[MartialHorror]

I'm split. I've never really thought Stardust to be a funny character. In fact, his wacky antics have always skirted being annoyed. However, I was cool with it because I thought Goldusts reactions to Stardust were funny. Now that they're splitting up, they need to evolve the character. Stardust probably needs to be creepier.

 

[DCLXVI]

I am all for him sticking with the character if it is used right and he becomes a maniacal The Joker style character. I posted originally about his suit making him look small against other guys... why not go a Finn Balor route and just wear the facepaint and trunks or tights... Navi I think brought back up the suit I mentioned. Nothing against the suit, but Goldust originally wore that because he was overweight and didn't have a body, it doesn't suit Cody and makes him look 20 pounds lighter than he used to and non-threatening. There is still hope so we just have to see how it unfolds.

 

[SoulTrain4]

Stardust needs to go. Cody is the same level of talent as Seth Rollins and is about the same size, he can talk, he can work and he has gotten everything he has ever done over.
Dashing
Undashing
Team Rhodes Scholars
The mustache
Stardust

Dude is a great actor and if you ever seen him on the JBL & Cole show you know how awesome he is.

There's no reason he can't main event PPVs.

 

[chuckmdubya]

Was just reading the article on the main page here about the possible feud and Goldust retiring. If he does retire after WM 31, I don't think that has to be the end of Stardust. The character was developed to be alongside Goldust, but Cody has taken it to another dimension. (pun intended)

Another interesting thing in there was that Goldust is likely to become a backstage producer and I think he'd be great for it. The producers or road agents are supposed to be the guys that help the current roster build matches and help with gimmicks. Goldust was a master at getting his gimmick over. The dude was given the most horrendous gimmick of the new generation era and turned it into an attitude era gimmick. I give credit to him and Mike Rotunda for having stupid gimmicks that they pulled off masterfully. He puts on good matches to this day and he always has. The brawl with Piper is the favorite match of all time for many fans.

 

[Wrestling Mind 300]

A long time coming but a feud between Cody Rhodes and Goldust has finally begun. However I would have never expected Cody Rhodes was going to go full psycho mode with this Stardust persona talking about stars, proclaiming the death of Cody Rhodes and that family means nothing to him. Well, the disfigured masked Cody Rhodes character was a high point in his career as it was his best run he's had imo.

What I had thought would happen was Cody Rhodes would realize that he his much better than this stardust bull crap and that he wants to be Cody Rhodes again and finally achieve his goal of becoming world champion. Instead, he's fully embracing the fact that he is stardust obsessed with stars blowing pixy dust. Although a match against his brother would be good, this gimmick only limits him to a possible ic run (a feat which he already achieved) as opposed to his last run against the authority.

 

[@smarkmouth]

I'm surprised to find myself so alone as a fan of Cody's less gimmicked incarnation. Perhaps as a face he had a certain lacking, but as a heel I enjoyed his feuds with Booker T and Big Show, in no small part due to his own side of the workload.

Beyond that, I worry about the longevity of the Stardust character. Sure, it can always evolve, but so can the Cody character. I see it more worthwhile for Cody to continue the Rhodes legacy than the Dust legacy. Perhaps that's not as articulate as I would like it to be, but that's how I feel about this scenario.