The Return of “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes

If you’re a fan of wrestling you have definitely heard of the Rhodes family. Dusty “The American Dream” Rhodes first came to fame in the 70s where he fought for a number of promotions before eventually finding his way to the World Wrestling Federation in the late 80s. Dusty was one of the hottest wrestlers of his day and when he retired he left a very impressive legacy in the ring.

This legacy would later be taken up by his son Cody who made his television debut in 2007 with his father and later stable partner, Randy Orton. Rhodes would go on to face Orton in his first match for the WWE. He lost to the “The Legend Killer” but impressed critics with his natural in-ring ability. Cody would later in the following year form a stable with Orton and Ted DiBiase Jr, son of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. The stable was accurately named, “Legacy” as all three wrestlers were second-generation superstars.

Cody had quite a run in WWE and wrestled for the company until 2016. He managed to garner quite a lot of accolades during this time, winning the World Tag Team Championship on a handful of occasions and even winning the Intercontinental Championship on two separate occasions. In 2016 Rhodes was released from the company and voiced his frustrations with WWE’s creative department for not giving him enough freedom when it came to his in-ring persona and how he was booked in matches. When Rhodes left WWE it was a shock to the wrestling world as the Rhodes have been synonymous with the company ever since Dusty started to wrestle for the promotion way back when. Cody would go to wrestle on the indie circuit before finally making his way to Ring of Honour and former major rival of the WWE, Total Nonstop Action (TNA).

In 2018 the Wrestling world was plunged into chaos when it was revealed that Cody, fellow wrestlers Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, and the son of international business mogul Shadid Khan, Tony had started their own wrestling promotion named All Elite Wrestling. Cody would use this opportunity to propel his career as he had always been seen in his time in WWE as a lower-midcarder. Now Rhodes was one of the top dogs in the company and managed to win the most coveted prize in AEW, the TNT Championship on three separate occasions. Whilst working for AEW, Rhodes made some harsh comments about his former employers and even smashed up an iron cross-shaped throne taking shots at “The King of Kings” Triple H who has used the symbol as his logo for many years. Many thought this was it for Rhodes and saw him seeing out the rest of his wrestling days at All Elite Wrestling.

Cody once again sent wrestling fans berserk in 2022 when it was announced that he had resigned for the WWE. It’s been rumored that Rhodes had either a personal or business disagreement with Tony Khan which saw him pack his bags and leave AEW. When even more rumors started to circulate that Rhodes was going to be appearing at Wrestlemania 38 the wrestling world was eager to see what was going to happen. Wrestlemania 38 saw the return of Rhodes to WWE and he received an enormous pop as fans were happy and surprised to see him back in the place that he had famously bashed over recent years.

It appears Rhodes has plans to make his return to WWE a memorable one as he has plans of winning the WWE Championship, a title that sadly his father never was able to obtain. Cody is currently feuding with Seth “Freaking” Rollins showing fans and his peers backstage that he has what it takes to be taken seriously as a professional wrestler.