Cody Rhodes: Is He Wrestling’s Best Heel Right Now?

The Bullet Club Divided

As Wrestle Kingdom 12 approached, a very intriguing match was announced by NJPW: Cody vs. Kota Ibushi. This match immediately excited me, as I thought it had a real chance to steal the show and I was eagerly hoping that Cody would thrive in it.

As the show approached, we began to see a slight change in Cody. He began taunting Kota, including yelling in the match that, “He will never love you as much as I do!” at Kota. Something clicked in this match, and Cody became despicable. Before this, he was certainly dislikable as a heel, but something in this match transformed him from a dislikable heel to utterly wretched human. It was a perfect heel transformation where he started to draw major heat.

This was furthered the next night at New Year Dash where Cody went to attack Kota again, but Kenny Omega saved him.

We saw some slight fissures forming in the Bullet Club here, but the payoff would not come until The New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2.

After Kenny Omega lost his IWGP United States title to Jay White, Hangman Page came down to the ring to challenge the new champion. Kenny grabbed the belt from Page and gave it to White, saying it was White’s moment. Cody came down and accused Kenny of hogging the spotlight and stealing the moment from Page.

The Young Bucks and Marty Scrull came down to the ring to try and calm the situation, but Kenny inadvertently shoved Matt Jackson to the ground. The Bucks, who were just trying to keep the peace, left the ringside area. Marty was left as the only one keeping the peace.

Cody and Kenny appeared to make up, but as they were living the ring, Cody grabbed Kenny and hit the Cross Rhodes on him, driving him into the mat. Marty freaked out and yelled at Cody while he picked Kenny up and was going to continue the assault with Hangman Page. Before the assault could continue, Kota Ibushi ran down to the ring to save Kenny, reforming The Golden Lovers in the process.