Cody Rhodes Needs a Change ASAP

Cody, the “Golden Boy,” has come out of WrestleMania with yet another exhausting win. As much as Triple H loves him, his character is starting to become wearying for the audience.

Roman Reigns was once in a similar position when the company tried unsuccessfully to shove him down our throats. However, they eventually found the secret ingredient: making him look and act like what they always envisioned — a “Demi-God,” the OTC.

Now, Reigns drifts comfortably between face and heel personas without committing 100% to either side. This ambiguity is exactly why there was something special about the Reigns — Punk rivalry. Both characters possess a certain roughness and the confidence to be who they are without losing credibility.

John Cena, often called the “Greatest of All Time,” always lacked that specific roughness. Ultimately, it is the genuine struggle to reach one’s goals that makes a character relatable and worth following.

Cena was a champion for so long, winning matches left and right, that he unintentionally sold the idea that as long as you believe in yourself, life isn’t that difficult. It reached a point where the audience begged him for years to turn heel, simply because they were looking for that missing edge.

In contrast, Roman Reigns’ 1,316-day title run was an easier pill to swallow. The reason was the entertainment value and the pure grit that Reigns possessed.

Now, Cody finds himself in a similar spot: he has won three WWE titles, main-evented five WrestleManias in four years, and won the Royal Rumble twice. It’s insane.

It is time for him to stop being the “good guy” and start searching for that roughness. However, that journey starts by moving to the opposite pole entirely — becoming the “bad guy.”

True complexity and gray areas are only found after you have touched both poles and proven you are comfortable on either side.

Strategic Implementation: Forging the Grit

To evolve Cody Rhodes from a “Golden Boy” into a character with genuine gravity, the narrative must force him through a crucible. Here are three avenues to manifest that missing roughness:

1. The Humiliating Deconstruction

Cody needs to endure a defeat that isn’t just a loss, but a systemic dismantling — akin to the legendary demolition of John Cena by Brock Lesnar.

A loss of this magnitude should shake his self-governance to the core. When he begins to falter against opponents he would typically dispatch with ease, we witness the psychological erosion of a hero.

It is only when his confidence is completely hollowed out that he can begin to rebuild with a sharper, more jagged edge.

2. The Mirror of Ambiguity: The Punk Rivalry

A collision with a character like CM Punk provides the perfect catalyst for a moral detachment.

What starts as a respectful, “friendly” rivalry must descend into a bitter, personal obsession. This conflict can expose Cody’s “Bigger than the Business” complex, forcing him to discard his polite sympathies in favor of a cold, calculated survival instinct.

By pitting his polished persona against Punk’s raw authenticity, Cody is forced to reveal the refreshing — perhaps darker — layers hidden beneath the suit.

3. The Institutional Trap

The perceived favoritism from Triple H is a narrative goldmine.

If that “fatherly” protection is suddenly subverted, Cody becomes an animal backed into a corner. By placing him in no-win scenarios — effectively barricading his path to the gold — the management can transform him from the company’s mascot into its greatest threat.

When he is trapped and disenfranchised, he will finally stop “performing” greatness and start fighting for it with the pure, unadulterated grit that only desperation provides.

Ultimately, people do not care as much about the final product as they do about the struggle.

Cody Rhodes doesn’t need another coronation.

He needs scars.

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