AEW: A heel turn is the character refresh that Cody needs

Dear readers, today we’ll be taking a look at just why a heel turn should be in the cards for AEW wrestler and Executive Vice President, Cody Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes’ name is dripping in history. Son of the late, great Dusty Rhodes and of course the brother of Dustin Rhodes, aka Goldust, he has made a name for himself in recent decades, of course surpassing the expectations laid on him while he was in WWE.

Rhodes actually started his professional wrestling training when he was a mere twelve-year-old boy at the hands of his legendary father. He was also backstage at WCW shows many times, when his father was booker and agent for that company.

But his professional wrestling journey got underway when he joined the ranks at Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE’s former developmental territory, previously responsible for shaping the careers of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Batista, Shelton Benjamin and so many more. It was in 2007 when he walked through the doors of that territory and his WWE career thus began.

It wasn’t all it should have been, especially for the likes of this prodigious talent and second-generation wrestler; but he did make a name for himself and the legions of fans that saw beyond the gimmicks he was dealt at the company latched onto him quick.

His tenure at the company has been well documented and we won’t be getting into it in thorough detail here, as that truly isn’t the point of this piece, but his stay in New York, as WWE was so often called in the early days—alluding to their original territory when they were part of the NWA before WWE broke off, as many other promotions eventually did, even WCW—was sadly anticlimactic, overall.

From a singles run, to The Legacy with Randy Orton in the lead and Ted DiBiase Jr., the whole paper bag debacle, and finally Stardust, his stock was lowered with every turn and change of character, leading to his departure in 2016…Triple H reportedly telling him that if he wanted to stay he needed to take a pay cut…something that Cody Rhodes did not expect, nor appreciate at the time.

And all before he would end up at AEW, a company that he helped launch of course, so began his run in the independent circuit, and what a run that was, Rhodes showing his worth in a big way, the effort culminating in a ROH World Championship, an IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship with NJPW, an NWA World Heavyweight Championship (very special because the NWA was a promotion (then NWA Tri-State) where Dusty held a plethora of championships including the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship.

The NWA is a promotion with a history probably even richer than WWE’s own history and maybe one day we’ll get into it in another piece, but the point I’m trying to get across here, is that Cody Rhodes has this in his blood and his father was a man that sold out arenas no matter if he was a face or a heel, and the same can be said for Cody.

This brings us to the fact that Cody could turn heel, no problem, and in fact, I believe it would only benefit his career at this point. It was at AEW: Grand Slam, this past Wednesday that Cody was booed, the fans in New York really going for Malakai Black.

In wrestling, that’s the perfect time for a turn, and for the likes of Cody Rhodes, he can indeed pull off being a top heel for the promotion, especially considering all of the faces that have entered the company in recent history and are rumored to be entering the company in the months to come. Just look what he’s done for Malakai Black.

The opportunities are endless, and like his father, he can put a lot of these guys over in doing so. Just imagine: CM Punk, Bryan Danielson; even younger, home gown AEW stars like “Jungle” Jack Perry aka Jungle Boy, Sammy Guevara…like I said, limitless possibilities…

How about a feud pitting The Nightmare Factory against the Dark Order…perhaps with a new leader in Windham Lawrence Rotunda, aka Bray Wyatt in WWE?!

Okay…I’ll stop it with the possibilities now, as I’m sure you catch my drift.

It’ll be interesting to see where they go with this after last Wednesday, but I think a heel turn is something Cody can pull off with his eyes closed and it would be a positive turn of events for the company overall.