Is Cody Rhodes Really 'All That?'

[klipz.nbd]

Now I know I'm going to get alot of hate here because the IWC just absolutely LOVES Cody for some reason, but am I the only one who think's he current character kinda well.... SUCKS.?

To clear things up firstly, I loved Cody when he had the "Dashing" gimmick going, I thought it was genius! And I even loved the start of this "deformed" gimmick he has now, but the last month or two have really made me lose interest in the guy, here are the reasons why:

- First off, this whole Paper Bag thing is dragging on FAR too long, and now when he comes out to do it I just end up fast-forwarding to the start of his match. It's the same thing EVERYTIME (which in some cases is a good thing but not here), it's boring and to be honest the crowd never seems that into it either.

- His mic skills. Now I know that he can and is great on the mic, as I learnt during his "Dashing" gimmick. But this whole trying to speak "dark and evil" thing just comes off sounding really monotone and un-interesting. Half the time I lose focus now and miss what he is saying completely.

- His attire. When he first came out with the suit on I LOVED it. I thought that it suited his character well and it went with the mask perfect. He looked interesting and like he was someone not to mess with. Now he comes out in his short tights, no kneepads and a leather jacket and it hurts my eyes just to look at the guy. I really do not like his new attire he looks to... Naked.

- The Mask. PLEASE. Lose the damn thing already!!!!! We know Mysterio kicked your face in and your supposed to be "deformed" but FFS it is clear and we can all see your face is fine! Now I get that they must be trying to make people think he is psychotic because we can see his face is normal, but he thinks its still ugly. But let's be honest, he should have dropped the mask after Capitol Punishment or it should at least be black so we can't see his face! It pretty much ruins the whole "dis-figured" thing they have going on with him, and honestly even an 8 year old would find it stupid.

Now before I end, I will say Cody is great in the ring and I think he has alot of potential and talent. But I just think this current gimmick has gone from being great, to being overplayed and dragged out so quickly. He needs to switch it up somehow otherwise I will go completely off him.

Who else agrees? Do you like or not like his current gimmick? And do you think its time they changed it slightly to make it interesting again?

Bring on the hate, I have no problem with people expressing their views.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Cody Rhodes isn't somebody the IWC talk up as being a fantastic worker or talker. Nobody is really massively overpraising anything he does. If anything people were just sort of surprised he was picked to feud with Mysterio and that their Mania match was given as much time as it was.

But yeah, the gimmick is fine. It's nothing but a midcard gimmick and it still has a few months left in it. Umm, not really much else to say. Nobody is overrating him and he's not underrated. He is what he is.

 

[Yesiamaduck]

I still really enjoy his gimmick, he has that air of unpredictablilty to him like he's going to go off the deep end at any moment. And it will happen, soon. He is a fantastic worker as well and I like his mic skills, if the WWE hadn't been on such a creative role as of late (R-Truth, CM Punk, Christian/Orton & Mark Henry) then he'd be the reason I was watching WWE.

 

[KnowYoRole]

No, he is not "all that." He SUCKS. I enjoyed his Dashing gimmick, but this new gimmick bores me to fucking TEARS. It's so bad that I fast forward through all of his segments. The moment his music hits I either turn off the TV or skip to the next segment. He really shows a lack of charisma, in the ring, on promos, and even his music screams boring. I actually hate him.

 

[LuN]

He's talented, but still has alot to improve. Don't know if it's supposed to, but he always cracks up his voice too much in his promos, it's annoying.

And yes, his current character sucks, not his gimmick though. It should be used wisely, WWE is not doing that.

 

[FSWWE]

I think that the IWC is a little bit overreacting with Cody Rhodes, but he deserves all the pops he has, saying that he sucks is plain stupid and one thing we can be sure, he is going to be the next big thing.

Here is the reason for all the hype:
a) Cody Rhodes is the youngest relevant Superstar in the roster;
b) He is very good in the microphone - like 8.5/10;
c) A really easy guy to work in the ring;
d) He has a gimmick that the majority thought that could be impossible to be made in the 21st century and he is running with it;
e) His moveset is something that fans can react - Ex: Beautiful Disaster.

However like many stated in other threads, he needs to be properly build like in the old days.
I would only give him a title shot by 2013, but the problem is that he needed to stay relevant, and when the time comes he will sell like shit.

He is a guy that has all the tools, the looks, the moveset and he is massively over, so I have no problem with him.
And on a side note, Ted DiBiase is as good as Cody Rhodes, they both are very similar so in the near future if they make Ted turn on Cody I will mark that out.

 

[SteelRevenge]

Cody is massively talented but I agree creative hasn`t been caring for him much.

Not unlike Ted, he could get crushed by them if they put too much into these other storylines like they did with nexus and the rest of the roster suffered.

As for your comments reguarding his monotone voice and mask, its char dude, live with it. Randy Orton does the monotone voice and some people hate him for it, others love it. Just like some people like wade`s accent, while others find his mic work poor at best.

I tend to agree with the mask thing too. but the thing is it has to come off in a meaningful way. If one day he just shows up without it everyone would be like huh. I hope he feuds with kane soon and through him gets rid of the mask but stays demented.

 

[Jessie Lynn DivaGirl]

I'm a Cody Rhodes fan (have been since I first started watching wrestling) and he's a very talented young man. However his current storyline drives me crazy. Is he all that? No. Yes. MAYBE.

We haven't really seen Cody preform as of late (we mostly see his promos). His promos are actually funny to listen too- because they're just a tad pathetic; plus he hands out the bags. Makes me want to burst out laughing.

Yeah, that's probably not a good sign.

Is he all that? Probably not. But he COULD be.

 

[TheKingHustla]

I enjoy C-Rho (making shortnames like my dawg Booker T) because he is entertaining. Well, was entertaining, before the WWE sort of dropped the ball and let it get stale too fast. When he first made his turn, it reminded me of Mankind, just a PG era version of it, and that's what excited me most. Mankind was one of the greatest gimmicks in the history of this business as far as his complexity and Foley's overall mastery of the character. I felt that's the direction the WWE was going with Rhodes but so far, they've seemed to ran into a wall and have let him fall into the hole of doing the same things over and over again. All he does now is call D-Bry a loser and hands out bags (the bagging after the match is cool though). I'm waiting for more of those mental brain check promos that I know he could do.

I thnik that many people on the net like Cody because he's a heel. If you noticed, heels own in the IWC. Generally because heels are more buzz worthy, and entertaining, and just because they are badass. Just look around, most of the heels get mad props here, and faces get slammed, aside from the handful that people seem to love the hell out of (Ryder, who's buzz is high from his internet stuff, JoMo, who's buzz is high for.... whatever reason, I really don't know, and D-Bry who's buzz...... well he can actually wrestle).

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I like Cody, always have. Do I like this particular character he's playing? Sometimes.

He's terribly monotone. When he speaks, I feel like I'm about to fall asleep. I understand that's his character, how he talks, blah, blah, blah -- it bores me.

The guy can wrestle, no doubt about that. If given the opportunity, I'm sure he'll put on some classics. I'm just hoping I'm not forced to sit through another year of him putting paper bags over the heads of fans. That doesn't excite me.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that Cody has impressed the IWC because they did not feel that he would amount to anything but he has done quite well for himself. Most people thought that he would be the afterthought in Legacy which was seen as a vehicle to push Ted Dibiase Jr to superstardom. Most thought that Cody would probably be stuck on Superstars for his life but he has done quite well and in fact far surpassed Ted.

And Cody was actually the one of the most entertaining character on Smackdown at the start of this year. His transformation from Dashing to Damaged was excellently and very believably pulled off and he was cutting some very intense promos during this time.

That is one of the things that is needed for a main eventer: intensity, and that is exactly what he lacked in his Dashing gimmick. He entertained in that gimmick as well but he was somewhat of a goof and goofs can never be World Champions. A serious,intense, slightly mentally deranged guy can, however. Therefore when he did go from Dashing to Deranged it seemed like he had turned a page and that is quite a difficult thing to do and that is the reason why he is getting praised.

I do think that he is not ready to main event as of yet. As the OP noted the Paper Bag stuff is getting boring and too gimmicky. What WWE needs to do is to focus on his new found intensity that has come as a result of his more or less psychological damage. They need to promote Cody as a dangerous person, a guy who is hell-bent on taking out his frustrations on the world. The paper bag stuff is too preachy and it also looks kind of wierd that people readily wear his paper bags. If they would resent and maybe Cody forced them down their heads , I would buy it but in it's present incarnation, it is a somewhat stupid gimmick.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I like Rhodes and have liked his work ever since his days with Hardcore Holly. Even though I liked his Dashing character better, this one can be taken more seriously as a contender for either the IC or World Championship. The paper bag thing got old but other than that I do like his character and he has a lot of potential if pushed correctly because it is very unique and he is good at what he does.

 

[wrestling god]

nope, ur not the only one who thinks that
i also think that the dashing gimmick was better
he used to get insane heat

although i dont like his current gimmick, he still is a good in ring worker and a good talker
later this year or early next year, i see him getting a world title shot

 

[Notorious718]

I think Cody Rhodes gets all the hype he's been getting because he's exceeded the expectations of many people, myself included. During his rookie year, I honestly didn't think he would amount to anything and that he would end up getting lost in the shuffle while DiBiase became the breakout star of the duo. Now my perception of Rhodes has gone a sudden 180. Now more than ever, I can actually take him seriously in the world title picture and would be in favor of him being pushed into the world title scene. I agree that his current gimmick can get stale at times with the paper bags but in my view, Rhodes has a sort of aura of cold blooded-ness and evil so to speak that I feel translates into his dark gimmick. Personally, I think he plays his role well although Incan see why he isn't the cup of tea of certain people. Give him time. He's still very young and has his entire career ahead of him.

 

[chubbsisevil]

I think Cody Rhodes has a heap amount of talent. I can't lie though, I think him putting bags over superstars heads is just fucking stupid. But I'll give him credit. He's been doing pretty well with this gimmick and been pulling it off rather well. And that's hard to say because I can't buy him as a psychotic heel mainly due to his build and his ring presence. But I honestly thought he had a decent chance at walking out of MITB with the briefcase.

Besides his feud with Rey, he just hasn't really done anything as a singles wrestler. You think that a win over one of the company's top stars would propel you to the next level, but they haven't pulled the trigger with him and he's luring around in the midcard, reuniting him with DiBiase who couldn't have any less momentum in this stage of his career. I think now's the right time to put the IC belt on him. Zeke isn't really doing anything with it, nor has he done anything even close to what Rhodes has done to warrant an IC title run.

 

[H33LTurn]

His character has gotten a bit boring. They need to make Ted Dibiase turn on him (if he hasnt already, I missed SD last week). A good rivalry would bring back some interest in him. It should end with Ted unmasking Cody and showing him that hes not really deformed at all. I hope this happens soon, or else Cody will be one of those guys who stays stuck in a gimmick, like Cena in the jean shorts, or Orton as The Viper. Those are gimmicks that dont necessarily need to evolve but you cant keep a mask on a guy forever unless his last name is Mysterio.

 

[TheTruNoLimit]

I think it's time to evolve and WWE officials should force him to remove his mask as he has fully recovered (storyline of course). The gimmick is getting kind of old. He can still go through this whole superficial face wound thing thinking he's hideous, but remove the mask. Eventually, they should have him realize he's not hideous and slowly move back to the dashing gimmick because they never fully utilized that.

Or he can turn face...

 

[Hazardous]

You know who else wore a mask, saying he was horribly disfigured? Kane. Remember the disappointment when he removed it and his face was fine?
Also, know who else talking in a low, monotone voice? Jericho on his last run. And personally, it was my favorite character he's done.
You hate the jacket?? I want one of those, that thing is sweet.

I never really liked Cody that much. I knew he was a great talent, and would be a future star and all, but I just didn't like it as much. The Dashing thing seemed a bit too Rick Rude for my liking. The new version of him though I like. It's something that he plays well, minus the paper bag thing. But look at some of the others things that are played out.. Little Jimmy? Orton pretending to be mental? So is a few paper bags REALLY that bad?
How someone can think he doesn't have talent in the ring is beyond me though. On the mic and in the ring the guy screams future WWE champ/World Champ.

 

[C.J.]

He isn't "All That"
He just looks like a model, a skinny male model putting on a terrible act. His gimmick, the promos are so damn boring and stupid.

 

[Theo Mays]

Sure Cody's current gimmick isn't flashy, but it is working for him. Cody has put himself in the spotlight and looks to be poised to be a future IC champion. Hell maybe he can be world champ someday, but I'm not going to jump ahead of myself. Rhodes may not have the prototypical look for a superstar, but he has the makings to be one. He can work the mic and he can work the ring. Cody's current shtick still has some gas left in it, but it will be what Rhodes does afterwards that shows his true potential. He has been one of the more entertaining characters with his Dashing and Damaged gimmicks. It will be how Rhodes separates himself from those down the road that truly will turn him into a star.

 

[Cracka Jack]

I think Cody is all-that, but I'll admit I'm a mark for the guy. The paper bag thing is fine for now, but he needs to lose it if he wants to move up to the main-event, which should be soon enough. He sounds very good on the mic to me, as I find his character believable (in the realm of wrestling, at least), and his angst about having the thing he's most proud of destroyed works well. I love his attire, especially his jacket, but that just comes down to personal taste. Now, the mask is something I'm mixed on. It works fine now, but it may get really old in time. Plus, I can't ever see Cody as a face with that thing on. He'll probably need to lose it eventually, but I don't know how that'll make sense in kayfabe. Anyway, Cody's got loads of potential, and is showing plenty of it, but a few tweaks to his character should be made for him to be as good as he can.

 

[I_Am_Electro_Boy]

I do like Rhodes, he's good on the mic, he's good in the ring and I think his gimmick is pretty good because it's not really been done before but is only a upper mid-card quality at best. If he is to be a main event player then he's going to have to loose his current gimmick. But right now I think the gimmick is okay.