On Friday night live on pay-per-view, Cody Rhodes had another opportunity at Christopher Daniels for the ROH World Championship at Best In The World. Here are all my overall thoughts on Cody’s transformation over the years throughout his career.

Wrestling In his blood

Cody comes from a wrestling pedigree family with the late great Dusty Rhodes as his father. Therefore it’s no surprise that wrestling was in his blood. Cody always belonged in a wrestling ring. The only problem is that Cody was underutilized during his time in the WWE.

Intercontinental Champion

Back in 2011, Rhodes faced Rey Mysterio in a match, and Mysterio connected with a blow to Cody’s face with his knee brace, as a result, it broke Rhodes’ nose. This would lead to Rhodes declaring he was no longer dashing and he needed facial reconstructive surgery. When he made his return back to the WWE he wore a mask to protect his face.

Rhodes and Mysterio feud would eventually have a  match at WrestleMania XXVII. He got the win but Mysterio would get his revenge when he defeated him in a Falls Count Anywhere match at Extreme Rules. This gimmick was amazing at the time because he demanded that the fans wear paper bags to hide their ugliness and imperfections.

Cody made history as he defeated Ezekiel Jackson on SmackDown. As a result, Cody went on to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. At the time that was his first singles title with the company. At the Hell in a Cell, pay-per-view he showcased a new design for the Intercontinental Championship. He brought back the white strap which was a classic 1980s design.

Cody’s mission was to bring back prestige to one of the most important Championships in WWE history. At WrestleMania XXVIII, Rhodes lost the Intercontinental Championship to the Big Show which was shocking as it ended his near eight-month reign of 236 days.

 

Stardust

Back in 2015, Cody Rhodes developed a new character in Stardust. At first, it was a different gimmick that was never seen before and Cody did the best he could with the gimmick. However, eventually, it was becoming stale because it wasn’t going anywhere. Fans could see that Cody was clearly unhappy with the company to his position. This would lead to Cody asking for his eventually WWE release.

WWE release

You have to give Cody credit for not just staying quiet and just collecting a cheque. Therefore he had to start from day one and start to build a brand himself and evolve as a wrestler.

Finding his passion

Cody found his love for wrestling once again when he went from show to show on the indies circuit. Whenever he would go to various promotions such as Smash Wrestling, House of Glory, Pro Wrestling Guerilla and Alpha 1 Wrestling to name a few indy promotions.

New Japan Pro Wrestling/Bullet Club

Cody found his true colors when signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling after he did work for Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor. Once he left the WWE he improved significantly on the mic. Due to the fact that for the first time in his career he finally had the freedom to do whatever he wants.

ROH World Champion

Destiny was set, for Cody to battle Christopher Daniels for the prestigious ROH World Championship. Daniels had Cody on the ropes early and he even busted up his lip and was bleeding early on in the first few moments of the match. This was a very entertaining match as it had it’s intense moments throughout the match There was a spot where Todd Sinclair was knockout and The Villan Marty Scurll helped out his fellow Bullet Club member with a steel chair. However, Frankie Kazarian stopped Scurll to even up the odds.

During a time in the match, Cody hit Daniels with The Rainmaker. This was a shot at the IWPG Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and could be a tease for a match down the line.

In finishing sequence of the match, Cody hit Daniels with Cross Rhodes only for a near fall. Daniels was able to get back on the offensive and he went for the Best Moonsault Ever but Cody moved out of the way. Cody was able to capitalize as he hit the Cross Rhodes for the second time. It was all over and he made history as he became the new ROH World Champion.

Conclusion

It took him only 13 months since he departed to win his first major World Championship in wrestling. ROH has had a long list of ROH Champions who went to become WWE stars such as Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Kevin Steen who is known as Kevin Owens.

Photo credit via WWE, ROH, Bullet Club, Chody Rhodes, The Young Bucks

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