The Cody Rhodes Story Thread (IT'S OVER)

[kingoftheindies]

Will Washington is fast becoming the guy I think speaks the most sense with wrestling

[HMARK Center]

There *are* times when it pays to show a babyface experiencing a struggle...but that's only when you do it as part of a longterm plan and story for someone you intend to have around for a very long time.

Like, if Cody was in his 20s and primed to be around for a long time, you could get away with the idea that he simply wasn't ready, didn't have the necessary experience, couldn't withstand the kinds of tricks or cagey moves a veteran like Roman could bring, maybe made some rash in-ring decisions or let his emotions dictate his actions too much for his own good, etc. But Cody's a veteran, Cody's as popular as he's ever going to be, and you're not going to get this opportunity again.

It's the same thing I say so often about a lot of WWE's booking: any idea in the right context CAN work, but I emphasize it needs that proper context.

[Push R Truth]

Cody's struggle was the last 15 goddamn years. Dude needs to win while the iron is hot.

[Chiral]

Apr 4, 2023 8:03:27 GMT -5 wildojinx said:

At this point, I wonder if Vince even wants new guys coming in. Maybe he's happy with the sparse roster he's got and doesnt want new talent. The last new guy who came in and was booked strong was AJ, and that was half a decade ago. Heck, even in NXT, under normal circumstances, guys like Bron, Carmello, Grimes, Chase, Schism, even Von Wagner would have been called up a long time ago, but they're still in NXT even now.

A big part of his plan before he stepped down was to just have insanely cheap rookies replacing expensive talent, hence him seeing no value in most NXT talent then booking shit like a Shanky Omos staredown like we're supposed to give any kind of shit about Shanky. I feel like the big new NCAA program ties into this as well.

[Chiral]

Also there's a trillion ways they can show faces (and heels!) having narrative struggles besides losing but they don't because they don't understand like 95% of the tools of basic storytelling anymore.

[asuka007]

The thing Cody HAS faced struggles.

They HAVE references his underwhelming first WWE run, getting fired, and then him having to spend years traveling the world becoming a better performer and making himself a main event guy.

Not to mention suffering a horrific injury that put him out for 9 months.

That all HAS been apart of this story. So why does he need MORE adversity?

Honestly, it felt like KO/Sami and undercut by this a bit as well.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Apr 4, 2023 11:38:20 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

Cody's struggle was like that last 15 goddamn years. Dude needs to win while the iron is hot.

Yeah Cody's struggle is stardust and being told her never be anything but a midcard freakshow act like his brother.

Then leaving and building up his reputation all over the world helping to cement the first real competition WWE has had in decades and came back to the WWE as the prodigal son to do what his legendary father couldn't against Roman who is a pretty good stand in for the WWE institution as a whole.

The atmosphere proves that it f***ing worked and they blew it. For really no reason, and if it really was because hey he's almost at 1000 days.... No one gives a f***.

[Tom Turkey]

Apr 4, 2023 11:59:30 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

The thing Cody HAS faced struggles.

They HAVE references his underwhelming first WWE run, getting fired, and then him having to spend years traveling the world becoming a better performer and making himself a main event guy.

Not to mention suffering a horrific injury that put him out for 9 months.

That all HAS been apart of this story. So why does he need MORE adversity?

Honestly, it felt like KO/Sami and undercut by this a bit as well.

whatever feelgood moment KO and Sami has when they won and overcame their own struggles has been overshadowed by WWE’s uncanny ability to shoot itself in the foot.

[sunnytaker]

also i chuckled at the thought i had that KO and sami didn;t come out to help cody cause they have their titles now and don't "need" cody anymore so they let brock destroy him.

[asuka007]

Apr 4, 2023 12:04:31 GMT -5 Tom Turkey said:

Apr 4, 2023 11:59:30 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

The thing Cody HAS faced struggles.

They HAVE references his underwhelming first WWE run, getting fired, and then him having to spend years traveling the world becoming a better performer and making himself a main event guy.

Not to mention suffering a horrific injury that put him out for 9 months.

That all HAS been apart of this story. So why does he need MORE adversity?

Honestly, it felt like KO/Sami and undercut by this a bit as well.

whatever feelgood moment KO and Sami has when they won and overcame their own struggles has been overshadowed by WWE’s uncanny ability to shoot itself in the foot.

I mean they got together to take down The Bloodline right? Well they did not even mention The Bloodline last night and were in a random midcard match while The Bloodline just carried on.

[thecrusherwi]

Apr 4, 2023 12:04:36 GMT -5 sunnytaker said:

also i chuckled at the thought i had that KO and sami didn;t come out to help cody cause they have their titles now and don't "need" cody anymore so they let brock destroy him.

They also didn't seem to care about the Bloodline anymore. The whole build was taking down the Bloodline. Then on Raw it was like "lol nevermind we just wanted to be the Tag Team Champions. I guess we'll just wrestle the Street Profits"

[Beets by Schrute]

Apr 4, 2023 11:59:30 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

The thing Cody HAS faced struggles.

They HAVE references his underwhelming first WWE run, getting fired, and then him having to spend years traveling the world becoming a better performer and making himself a main event guy.

Not to mention suffering a horrific injury that put him out for 9 months.

That all HAS been apart of this story. So why does he need MORE adversity?

Honestly, it felt like KO/Sami and undercut by this a bit as well.

Andddd,


LOSING HIS DAD, which was the center of the whole storyline

[Citizen Grimm]

On top of what has already been said, if you have your babyfaces constantly having to battle adversity then they need to finally win at the right moment.

Take WM 14 for example. Austin has never been world champ and is going against DX plus Mike f***ing Tyson. The Raw before the PPV is him getting his ass beat and talked trash to while he's tied up in the ropes. That logical adversity for a babyface to overcome. How is Austin supposed to not only beat HBK but HBK with Tyson on his side?

And then, though perseverance, he did so at the exact right time. It's really not that hard to figure out.

Is Cody buried after all of this...probably not. But damn, you cut his legs right out from under him between losing to Roman, his promo ackowledging Roman as the "better man" and then getting destroyed by Brock in 24 hours.

[Feargus McReddit]

Apr 4, 2023 11:09:45 GMT -5 kingoftheindies said:

Will Washington is fast becoming the guy I think speaks the most sense with wrestling

Batista on his own kills the “he needs a struggle” argument.

If anything, he was the first guy in a while that HHH was f***ing terrified about going after the Rumble, hence the attempted manipulation, because if there was a guy familiar with HHH’s bullshit first hand, besides Flair, it was Batista.

And I’ll say what I said in the other threads; the crowd was into him. The crowd was watching his segments, the crowd was buying his merch, the crowd was cheering him every time he appeared even in video form. It’s pro wrestling, those things used to be all you needed. The f*** else did you need?

[Tom Turkey]

Apr 4, 2023 12:09:30 GMT -5 Citizen Grimm said:

On top of what has already been said, if you have your babyfaces constantly having to battle adversity then they need to finally win at the right moment.

Take WM 14 for example. Austin has never been world champ and is going against DX plus Mike f***ing Tyson. The Raw before the PPV is him getting his ass beat and talked trash to while he's tied up in the ropes. That logical adversity for a babyface to overcome. How is Austin supposed to not only beat HBK but HBK with Tyson on his side?

And then, though perseverance, he did so at the exact right time. It's really not that hard to figure out.

Is Cody buried after all of this...probably not. But damn, you cut his legs right out from under him between losing to Roman, his promo ackowledging Roman as the "better man" and then getting destroyed by Brock in 24 hours.

If WWE booked Austin vs. HBK today, they’d have Stone Cold lose because Mike Tyson punched him out. Then on Raw, he’d cut one promo about the match, only to get beat up by Kurrgan or something.

[Citizen Grimm]

Apr 4, 2023 12:18:05 GMT -5 Tom Turkey said:

Apr 4, 2023 12:09:30 GMT -5 Citizen Grimm said:

On top of what has already been said, if you have your babyfaces constantly having to battle adversity then they need to finally win at the right moment.

Take WM 14 for example. Austin has never been world champ and is going against DX plus Mike f***ing Tyson. The Raw before the PPV is him getting his ass beat and talked trash to while he's tied up in the ropes. That logical adversity for a babyface to overcome. How is Austin supposed to not only beat HBK but HBK with Tyson on his side?

And then, though perseverance, he did so at the exact right time. It's really not that hard to figure out.

Is Cody buried after all of this...probably not. But damn, you cut his legs right out from under him between losing to Roman, his promo ackowledging Roman as the "better man" and then getting destroyed by Brock in 24 hours.

If WWE booked Austin vs. HBK today, they’d have Stone Cold lose because Mike Tyson punched him out. Then on Raw, he’d cut one promo about the match, only to get beat up by Kurrgan or something.

To be fair, I completely unironically loved Kurrgan so I'd probably be down with that lol

[thecrusherwi]

Apr 4, 2023 12:20:13 GMT -5 Citizen Grimm said:

Apr 4, 2023 12:18:05 GMT -5 Tom Turkey said:

If WWE booked Austin vs. HBK today, they’d have Stone Cold lose because Mike Tyson punched him out. Then on Raw, he’d cut one promo about the match, only to get beat up by Kurrgan or something.

To be fair, I completely unironically loved Kurrgan so I'd probably be down with that lol

I remember thinking that Kurrgan was the biggest threat to Austin's title after he won it.

[bearned]

I don’t understand why they would need to book him to ‘overcome’ adversity/struggle when the dude literally worked a major PPV match visibly gruesomely injured and then spent months heroically working his way back to win the Rumble. That’s the story right there and it wrote itself. Baffling.

[hashtagdaley/JudasDay]

Apr 4, 2023 11:38:20 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

Cody's struggle was the last 15 goddamn years. Dude needs to win while the iron is hot.

And it is no longer hot.

[SneakMan]

Apr 4, 2023 12:20:13 GMT -5 Citizen Grimm said:

To be fair, I completely unironically loved Kurrgan so I'd probably be down with that lol

Same. If the Raw after Mania 14 had ended with Kurrgan putting Austin in the Iron Claw and dragging him up the ramp by his head, WCW would've folded the next day.