Highlights
- Cody Rhodes’ return heralded the comeback of traditional babyfaces in WWE.
- Paul Heyman acknowledges Rhodes’ role in bringing back authentic good guys.
- The success of Rhodes paves the way for better booking and acceptance of babyfaces in WWE.
Once upon a time, WWE heavily pushed the All-American type babyface, which led to the wild success of Hulk Hogan and Hulkamania. By the 90s, however, fans grew bored with the smiling good guy. They wanted edgy heroes like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock, but when they retired, many fans rejected an attempt to go back to old school babyfaces with John Cena and Roman Reigns. Then along came Cody Rhodes, who fans rallied behind when he returned to WWE in 2022. He smiled, was positive, dressed in American flag colors, but everyone cheered him, mostly because of how authentic he felt. He was the return of the traditional babyface of past eras, which the American Nightmare himself commented on during his interview on Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg. Rhodes said:
“I heard Mr. Heyman say this and I know it’s true because he didn’t tell me directly. A byproduct of my return, he said, this is his words, it allowed the traditional babyface to come back. They were growing elsewhere, these babyfaces. Two prime examples are Sami Zayn and Jey Uso, who is now the face, with Seth [Seth Rollins], the face of Monday Night Raw. I know he didn’t tell me that directly, and never will, but that felt like, ‘What a cool thing to maybe be able to claim. You were helpful in bringing that in.'” (h/t
Fightful
)
Paul Heyman is correct in his assessement. While WWE still does have some more edgy babyfaces, like CM Punk and LA Knight, there are also a lot of traditional babyfaces such as Sami Zayn and Jey Uso who wouldn’t have gotten over just a few short years ago. Thanks to Cody Rhodes and Triple H’s creative leadership, however, babyfaces are now being booked better, leading to acceptance from WWE fans.
The Undertaker Shares Voicemail He Received From Cody Rhodes
The Undertaker has revealed a funny story about how Cody Rhodes celebrated after WWE WrestleMania 40.
Will WWE Fans End Up Booing Cody Rhodes?
How Cody Rhodes is looked at by fans in WWE is a true 180 from how he was treated in AEW, where fans turned on him and booed him relentlessly during the end of his run there. Will the same thing happen in WWE? Rhodes addressed that with Peter Rosenberg, saying:
“I know there are people who are like, ‘they’re going to start booing him.’ At this point, you’re right, because you play the game for over two years. At a certain point, I feel like it’s an odd thing to say you’re right when you’ve spent the last few years saying it would happen and it didn’t happen. I don’t know where the peak of this is. I think some people look at WrestleMania and go, ‘Maybe that was the peak. Maybe that was it.’ I would disagree and I’m going to point to a sold out Backlash in France. That’s the opportunity for me.”
There has to be a little bit of concern that now, with the story finished, fans might grow bored of Cody Rhodes and boo him. But like the American Nightmare said, it’s also something many thought would have happened by now, yet the cheers for him only get louder. How fans look at Cody Rhodes will probably depend on how WWE books him. The first test is this weekend, where Rhodes defends his newly won Undisputed WWE Championship against AJ Styles at Backlash in France.
