Stardust falling flat/misused?

[DCLXVI]

So I think the reinvention of Cody Rhodes as Stardust is one of the more creative/cool gimmicks in years. I was really impressed with how Cody embraced the character and he plays it awesome. I dig the twisted comic book villain vibe and the only person I can see cutting promos as interesting being maybe Bray. Lately it seems like the Dust Brothers are falling a little flat and just being thrown into random 6 man tags with whatever heel happens to be there or stuck with the Usos still (barf). I think their slowing down momentum may be because it's hard to feud and cut intricate promos and build a story against a tag team basically made for kids who couldn't cut a promo at gunpoint. Let's also face it, I love Goldie but he will never be seen as a legitimate heel again after his time in WWE and having a big run as a comedy character.

So the question is: do you see Stardust having shelf life as a character and making an impact? We all know Cody Rhodes will be kind of screwed if this doesn't pan out.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

I've enjoyed Cody Rhodes view on this new gimmick as "Stardust", it gave him a breath of fresh air at first but he's just been misused as a character and that's not really The Dust Brother's fault. Also there isn't exactly any long payoff to all of this right now - they are just both there and eventually we will get some sort of separation and we'll see Stardust taking the mantle of following on his older brother's footsteps.

However as much entertaining and as much Cody Rhodes really gives his all to make the character entertaining and have great matches, he's going to suffer the same fate as Goldust did in his heyday. A great great talent and a midcard gimmick - he will not be taken seriously, he's just too cartoon(ish). And that bothers me, because I've seen flashes of brilliancy out of Cody Rhodes - in many ways he reminds me of a "young Randy Orton", but they dropped the ball simply put. Now I don't know why, but fuck it's the IWC so lets speculate - some people say it's because of his daddy's relationship with The McMahons, maybe he's just too short for WWE to give him a serious push, maybe he just isn't marketable - and if that's the case, well fine I guess, but the kid does indeed have talent and passion for the business.

We'll never see him feuding with the likes of John Cena anytime near the future. He'll luckily be in the pre-show for this year's WrestleMania in a tag team match of some sorts or, if the lightning strikes, will have an opportunity to steal the show in a retirement match against his own brother - after that? It all depends of how big of a splash he made. Remember - Fandango was a gimmick people actually got behind for being a fun one, but where's he now? Damien Sandow was great as "The Intellectual Savior", however... Bray Wyatt has been the "character" of the last two years to put your eyes on - and did that really made him bigger? It's all about who the company sets their eyes on and not really how marketable the guy is anymore, which is a damn shame. Talent is talent, but right now, they all seem to be very talented - if Vince and HHH likes you, you'll get more television time and more money - example?

Rusev. He's not better than Big E. in the ring for instance, his gimmick isn't really that fresh or interesting, but he already shared a spot with The Rock and he's been kicking the crap out of everyone he crosses paths with and the gimmick is making people chant "USA" all over your country. It's not the guy anymore, so Rhodes will have to kiss some ass to be more featured as Stardust and don't make himself lose any momentum.

 

[OYDK]

Honestly, I don't want to see Stardust on my TV for the next 10 years. I enjoy the gimmick and Cody Rhodes does play it very well, but I still believe that the WWE saw this as maybe a 6-8 month thing where they needed a new tag team to give the belts too and the Stardust character was invented. I still think (hope) that WWE has the plan to turn Cody against Goldust eventually. He'll bitch about becoming a joke as Stardust, say he won't become the has-been laughingstock that Goldust has been, beat his brother and than start a serious push.

To answer your question, I don't see Stardust as having a shelf life. His career could very well match Goldust's who we all know has been around forever. I just don't care to see it for the next 10-15 years.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Not really sure that I agree. Considering the zany nature of the Stardust character, there's really only so far that he can go as he currently is. Stardust kinda sorta puts me in mind of the old school portrayal of The Joker in the comic books and in the old 60s TV series. He's whacky, weird, has a bit of a dark & dangerous side, but there's just enough light hearted aspects to balance things out. Unless they go the route of twisting him into a much darker, more sadistic personality, I don't see Stardust going any higher than the tag team or mid-card picture because the character is just too cartoonish to be taken seriously as a main event threat. He gets a good response from fans, we saw that this past Monday on Raw, but I think a lot of people will have trouble latching onto him as a credible threat to the World Championship as he currently is. He's too...what's the word...puckish maybe? He seems more like a playful trickster with a slight mean streak.

If anything, I see Stardust as an example of Cody Rhodes being given an opportunity to prove himself again. As Silverback stated, we've seen glimpses of brilliance from Cody Rhodes and I think there's untapped potential lurking under the surface. I don't expect Stardust to stay as Zany as he currently is in the long run because people will get tired of it and he'll ultimately wind up being a comedy jobber like Santino. If the character does stay around, I do think he'll eventually go darker. Otherwise, I think it'll be dropped at some point. Whenever Goldust's deal is over or he ultimately decides to hang it up, I think we'll see the end of Stardust unless, as I've said, they go the route of making him a lot darker and more sadistic.

I still don't think Cody has reached the ceiling of his career. It might seem like it because he's been on the roster for just this side of forever, but it's easy to forget how young he is. He's only 29 years old and I don't see WWE keeping him on in years to come just to be used as a jobber. I can see him moving into the upper mid-card and main event pictures at some point, but not with the Stardust character as he currently is.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

I really really like the character of stardust, and with the heel turn he's even more fun. Cody rhodes facial expression are damn perfect, and I love the wacky moves he added to his set.

I really hope that at some point he'll stop feuding with U so boring and will be put in a true feud where his character can shine.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Someone mentioned Cody finally being given a role that allows him to portray a character with some color, instead of the bland, vanilla nothing he played all along.

Yes, portraying Stardust does give him that, yet the role and function of the Brothers Rhodes has yet to be defined. Sure, they were faces at the beginning ....and heels now....but what's the real difference? Now, they take cheap shots at their opponents, and that's supposed to make them bad guys?

What about all the backstage stuff we used to see from Goldust in his prime? What about the character development? What about the props? (everything from a car in the parking lot to a Port-o-John in the ring).

If you answer that the company never intended to make the Rhodes guys' that prominent an act, then why create them in the first place?

Look, if the idea was to finally give Cody a role he could play without coming off as boring.......while providing a good soldier like Dustin a stage to re-enact his greatest character as he moves toward retirement.....then, fine.....I guess.

However, I believe if you're going to have an oddball team in there and give them no program to run with, what's the sense of having them at all?

That's the problem. Stardust & Goldust are nuts, but we don't know why they're nuts. They're like still figures that require animation. They're operating without a purpose.

 

[L@RISANO]

I think the Stardust/Goldust combination basically falls under the same group as that of Cesaro and Bray Wyatt and his family for all thoughts and purposes.
They are all MidCarders with upsides that aren't being explored at all by the WWE even at a time when they have had injury problems, walkouts, etc...


For eg. I know quite a few were happy when the Usos won the tag titles(although there were also quite a few who weren't), but I think with the way the Wyatt family was handled(thereafter in their feud with tag champ Usos), it meant that a possible interesting feud between the Wyatt family and a Babyface GoldStar team couldn't happen.
It would have surely given the Wyatts something to do at NoC instead of having them off, and may have even been an interesting midcard story given both groups are bizarre groups at the end of the day.


That said; with regards to Stardust specifically...he won't get any major push until this team is ready to break up. That is what most members have said above, and I agree with that. Too bad it is that way, because I felt the swerve before SummerSlam in creating Stardust had potential to give the Rhodes bros. a breath of fresh air for one more year, which wasn't at all expected during Mania 30 season.

Pity, pity as it has been for Bray and his family, and also Cesaro. Loads of potential but being misused...seems to be normal with regards to Creative(and Vince ofc) nowadays...

 

[DCLXVI]

It is semi off topic but I will disagree with you about Big E being better than Rusev... Rusev has actually won me over and has hung with some big veterans lately and cuts a pretty damn believable promo... Big E's character has the personality of paint drying.

 

[DCLXVI]

But back to the topic at hand... Goldust is inevitably leaving (though he seems to be in the best shape of his life) and with Cody not even 30 years old I think a singles push would work (probably not enough TV time but maybe with the smaller shows as he wrestles singles time to time on them) with him being a mischievous slightly evil prankster or weirding out other wrestlers in backstage segments.

 

[Navi]

I'm on the fence about the whole Stardust character. Everytime I see him I'm reminded of Jim Carey as "Joker" in the Batman movie. I have no idea why, totally different people but it just seems like Rhodes is channeling him somehow. And I hate Jim Carey.

Goldust has been around what what seems like forever, and should be nearing the end of his contract, so I don't know what they have in store for Cody Rhodes when his brother leaves. The Stardust character only really works with Goldust, so either like someone else said, they will morph it into something else or let it go completely.

Cody Rhodes has always been on the radar but for some reason never really made it as far as he should have. I would put him into the same category as Sheamus, a wrestler with good abilities and is a fan favourite, but not the corporation's favourite. In other words the WWE feels that they can get more mileage out of others than they could out of Cody Rhodes.

 

[The Mattitude Era]

Stardust sounds like he's getting pretty good reactions.

 

[#hamler]

Anyone read any of the reports on the Stardust and Goldust signing autographs at the Ringside Fest in New York City? It was reported that Stardust looked confused when asked to sign a picture or an action figure of Cody Rhodes which is hilarious. It looks like Kayfabe has been restored!

Looking back, Stardust is currently taking a similar path as his famed brother Goldust. Dustin Rhodes tried making a name for himself through his father. The son of a son of a plumber didn't pan out and with that, Dustin made Goldust a standalone character and created an astounding legacy which will indeed get him into the hall of fame. He made Goldust a household name. Stardust has the potential to do what his brother failed to do and take an extremely unique character and burst through the glass ceiling. In all honesty, Cody Rhodes saved his career by forming his new Stardust character. In the forever changing world of professional wrestling, as fans, we get bored a lot — almost as bored as WWE creative does. With that, Cody knew he had to do something to remain relevant and the Stardust character is a fresh place holder until he can break through that glass ceiling.

With that said, I have no doubts Cody Rhodes can make Stardust work. Anyone remember the sadistic side of Cody Rhodes when he wore the mask? He made that character work and with the amount of room he has to work with, he'll make this one work as well. Rhodes has genuinely sunk his teeth in this character and if anyone can make it work, it is undoubtedly Cody. I created a thread a couple years back about Goldust never being a World Champion and a lot of the replies said that the Goldust character was way ahead of it's time. Given the severe lack of creative movement with the WWE right now, Stardust is a breath of fresh air and I really hope WWE management feels the same way I do.

Unless they go the route of twisting him into a much darker, more sadistic personality...

I rather like this idea. If the Stardust character fails to gain any momentum with WWE higher ups, I can see Cody taking the character and flipping him into a darker more sadistic character kind of what he did when Rey Mysterio broke his nose. However, with Wyatt's character equally, if not more dark, I wouldn't see this working. With that character and Wyatt's character on the up and up, to many similarities would be drawn.

 

[Mudlup50]

I've been a fan of Cody's since pretty much the beginning(his team with Hardcore Holly I remember pretty vividly) and I think Stardust does have a shelf life. If anything he's only going to be Stardust until Goldust leaves. Hopefully they have a match, maybe at RR or EC. Preferably have Goldust turn on Cody. That way Cody can be face. He doesn't respect his brother enough to play the character anymore, so Stardust becomes Cody again and has a moderate push going into next Wrestling year by retiring his brother. Just a thought.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Cody Rhodes as himself is vanilla. Most of the time he has been himself, he has been vanilla. He was fine as Orton's lackey and the short stint he worked against The Authority and Shield last year was amazing but Cody as himself is just, just, just vanilla.

However, Cody Rhodes is also great at playing offbeat characters. Dashing wasn't bad and Hideous was pretty good too. Cody Rhodes is good as Stardust. I think it would work better with a little more money and production value put in to it. It may also help if he changes his hair. Seems like all they ever did were a few cheap vignettes and his goofy ring entrance which is shot from too wide of an angle. Cody's dancing is not menacing, it is goofy. Cody seems really committed to the role but there are some tweaks that can be done to improve the character's presence.

In the end I still think we get the brother break up and retirement match for Golddust. However, unlike Mudlup50, I expect Cody to be the bad guy.

And I expect Vaginadust to be revealed and to side with Cody. Lana will take on the identity of Marlena 2.0 aka Marlana and Harvey Wimpleman will be revealed as the purveyor of GTV before Golddust retires.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Stardust definitely has potential as a character to make an impact with or without being in a tag team with Goldust. It's bar none the most interesting run Cody has ever had. Better than when he was in Legacy or teaming with Hardcore Holly, better than Dashing Cody, WAY better than Disfigured Cody, and better than when he was just being himself. I wouldn't say he is being misused at all. This team was the perfect way to bring in the character and it should remain his character afterwards even in singles action. Cody needs to stay Stardust forever. It won't win him any world titles (especially in today's WWE with only one World Heavyweight Championship) without tweaking it a bit, but it's highly entertaining and would work just fine in the Intercontinental Championship tier if/when his team with Goldust splits up.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

While I've been a fan of Cody's since day one, I haven't been the biggest fan of the Stardust character. It's hardly creative or original, seeing as it's basically just Goldust's gimmick with less sexual overtones than when he originally debuted in the 90's & at first the Stardust character seemed like it was flopping as a babyface. They started to pick up some steam & really get over once they went into full heel mode but even that took a couple weeks & then at that very next PPV they were crowned Tag Team Champions. It all just seemed too fast (Usos shouldn't have dropped the straps until Hell in a Cell at the earliest) & it appears as if most of the decisions were last minute ditch efforts to make sure the Stardust character doesn't completely fail since this is sort of Cody's last real chance it seems like.

So while I kind of like heel Stardust, I definitely think the character has a shelf life & a rather short one at that. In fact the character has already lasted longer than I originally thought it would. He just has to go back to being Cody Rhodes at some point.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Cody Rhodes shines with whatever they give him and he throws himself into his characters but I hate Stardust. I really liked his masked mf doom inspired gimmick, he was giving me some Anakin Skywalker Episode 3 vibes.

I hate stardust though.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

The opening segment of Main Event was actually quite funny. That's what Goldstar needs, more skits to further their weird characters.

 

[kadroan]

He had a buzz last summer when he split from Sandow and almost won the MITB.

Him tagging with Goldust in the fall was cool, even getting an upset win over The Shield.

It's interesting they turned heel recently. I'm hoping it leads to a one on one match up at WrestleMania next year.

 

[WarroBODFan]

I give a lot of credit to Cody for going all in on the character, investing himself in it and avoiding being seeing out of character as often as possible, even in pictures etc.

But as mentioned earlier, there is only so much he can do with this. I'm not a fan of the gimmick, but seeing him and Goldust having a heel run is something different at least. The problem for me is the booking. Having seen The Usos V Gold and Stardust quite a few times already, I'm already fairly over the feud, but that's typical WWE booking for you anyway, not the first time and not the last time they'll do this.

I'm actually a fan of Cody Rhodes, and I hope he can return to being Cody again soon, whether as a face or heel I don't really mind at this point. I won't criticise WWE for trying something a little different, but I'd prefer them to not make this Stardust thing drag on for too long. But again, full credit to Cody for going balls to the wall with this and making the best of it.

 

[Mudlup50]

It's interesting they turned heel recently. I'm hoping it leads to a one on one match up at WrestleMania next year.

I hope this does not happen. Can we face what they are seriously? Goldust was pretty much a career midcarder, absolutely nothing wrong with that. Cody, is following that path...at least now. Which isn't a problem, if they fought at any other PPV. But Wrestlemania "should" be for the best of the best. Don't get me wrong, I won't complain to see it on the card.

But especially this Wrestlemania, this will be the show that proves they are trying to make new talent. Which I get they can do by putting Cody over, but he's destined for the midcard. Think about the guys we need to compete:Lesnar, Rock, Cena, Orton, Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins, Bray, Cesaro, Ziggler, etc. Keep in mind this year featured just about every single guy on the roster in a match of some sort. So it's not like Cody/Dust would take the spot of 2 guys, in theory you're taking a spot away from 4-20 guys.


And let me iterate, I'm not against them competing, I hope it happens so much! But have it happen at Elimination Chamber. Goldust wins and they head into Wrestlemania either on opposite teams...or in the ATGBR. Neither win the match, but continue it through Wrestlemania. Settle it at Extreme Rules in say a NO DQ match, or maybe a ladder match..something good. Cody wins, Goldust quits saying he got the ruthless aggresion/personality/energy/whatever they call it, out of Cody and now he can leave. Bam! He's gone.

 

[Scrotie McBoogerballs]

The idea sounded better in theory. He does play it well, but it just comes across as desperate.

 

[MartialHorror]

Is it just me or is Stardust's suit restricting Cody's movements. When Cody Rhodes was a face (before Stardust), he had a rather vanilla personality. He was dull compared to his brother (although for awhile, Goldust was only interesting because of his appearance). But he always excelled in the ring.

As Stardust, he's more interesting as a character...but he's yet to really wow me in the ring. He's still good, but not great. I can only presume that the sudden drop of match quality has to because the suit is so tight.

 

[Mudlup50]

Is it just me or is Stardust's suit restricting Cody's movements. When Cody Rhodes was a face (before Stardust), he had a rather vanilla personality. He was dull compared to his brother (although for awhile, Goldust was only interesting because of his appearance). But he always excelled in the ring.

As Stardust, he's more interesting as a character...but he's yet to really wow me in the ring. He's still good, but not great. I can only presume that the sudden drop of match quality has to because the suit is so tight.

I don't know if I agree with you but he's been trying to modify his moveset for his new gimmick, which might restrict his ability. Plus maybe the repeat match week after week is what's making them boring, lord knows I'm uninterested in the 6 man tag to start Raw every week

 

[DCLXVI]

I agree, he has been modifying his style/moveset to be kind of zany, like the "Falling Star" (him jumping off the ropes and landing on his opponents ass first) and the "Dark Matter" sweeping DDT thing I haven't seen him use in a while but a lot of people on the forum weren't crazy about it.

They just made Stardust masks and gloves for sale, and he always seems to have fresh suits (lately it's had some blue, last night glittery blue for Hell in a Cell) so they seem to be investing some time into him. I just hope they don't make him too silly/kiddish of a character. He needs more of a dark overtone lately and somebody decent to have a storyline with/wrestle...

Having the bizarre brothers randomly team with Cesaro or Bo Dallas makes no sense story wise other than they are both heels, which the Dust Brothers don't seem to be able to incite a huge heel reaction.