Cody Rhodes

The son of wrestler Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of wrestler Dustin Rhodes, he rose to prominence during his first tenure with WWE from 2006 to 2016, where he adopted various gimmicks under his real name before being repackaged as a melodramatic spin-off of Dustin’s Goldust character named Stardust. He has also wrestled for promotions such as TNA, NJPW, and ROH. Outside of wrestling, he served as a judge on the competition series Go-Big Show and starred with his wife Brandi Rhodes on the reality show Rhodes to the Top.

After an amateur wrestling career that earned him two Georgia state championships, Rhodes joined WWE in 2006 and was initially assigned to its developmental territory OVW, where he became a Triple Crown Champion. He joined WWE’s main roster in 2007 and throughout his WWE career, became a two-time Intercontinental Champion and a prolific tag team wrestler, winning eight world tag team championships (three World Tag Team Championships, four WWE/Raw Tag Team Championships, and one SmackDown Tag Team Championship) with five separate partners.^[8][9]

Following his departure from WWE in May 2016, Rhodes began wrestling on the independent circuit and making several appearances in TNA, where he wrestled under the mononym Cody due to WWE owning the Cody Rhodes name until giving it up in 2020. From early 2016 to early 2017, he competed at WWE’s WrestleMania, NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom, and ROH’s Final Battle events, as well as appearing for TNA’s Bound for Glory event. In September 2017, he wrestled in ROH, where he became a one-time ROH World Champion.

He would later become a one-time IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion and a one-time ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion (with Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). He won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as part of ROH’s partnership with NWA in September 2018, marking the first time the championship had been won by both a father and son, as his father had previously won it. Between WWE, AEW, NJPW, NWA, and ROH, Rhodes has held a total of 19 championships (including four world championships). In early 2018, he simultaneously held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, and ROH Six-Man Championship.

In January 2019, Rhodes was named as an executive vice president of the newly formed promotion AEW, where he would also wrestle. While there, he would have critically acclaimed matches with his half-brother Dustin, Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Brodie Lee, in addition to becoming the inaugural and record-tying three-time AEW TNT Champion. After failing to negotiate a new contract with AEW President Tony Khan, he relinquished his executive position, and he and his wife departed AEW in February 2022.

Two months later, he returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 and defeated Seth “Freakin” Rollins. He won both the 2023 and 2024 men’s Royal Rumble matches, becoming the fourth wrestler to achieve back-to-back victories at the event and the first since Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1997 and 1998. At WrestleMania XL, Rhodes won his first world championship in WWE, ending Roman Reigns’ WWE Universal Championship reign of 1,316 days, in the process becoming a WWE Triple Crown winner.

Notable Feuds

vs. Seth Rollins

vs. Roman Reigns

Other Notable Achievements

A1 Tag Team Championship – with Ethan Page

GFW NEX*GEN Championship

OVW Heavyweight Championship

OVW Television Championship

OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Shawn Spears

Fourth OVW Triple Crown Champion

Amateur Wrestling – Sixth at 171 pounds (78 kg) weight class (2002), Champion at 189 pounds (86 kg) weight class (2003), Champion at 189 pounds (86 kg) weight class (2004).