Exploring the Legacy of The American Nightmare: Every Cody Rhodes Gimmick in WWE

Cody Rhodes has been a prominent name in the world of professional wrestling since his debut in 2007. The star has amassed a huge fan following due to his persona, The American Nightmare. He comes from a family of pro wrestling stars before him, Rhodes being a second-generation wrestler. His father, the late Dusty Rhodes, was known to fans by the name of The American Dream. His half-brother, Dustin Rhodes, was popular amongst fans as Goldust.

This meant that the young Cody Rhodes had to take up a gimmick after joining the world of professional wrestling. But little did fans know that he would end up becoming one of the most versatile stars in the promotion.

The many faces of Cody Rhodes

During his initial days, there was nothing special about Rhodes. He went by his original family name, Cody Runnels, and in 2008, was a part of The Legacy, a stable formed with Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase Jr. They disbanded in 2010, as Orton left the faction, and both Rhodes and DiBiase turned on each other at WrestleMania 26. This created room for him to don a new persona. He went on to become “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. He took up his family’s wrestling surname and portrayed a narcissistic character. Fans were impressed by the new Cody Rhodes. But things changed after he had a match with Rey Mysterio. In 2011, Rhodes suffered an injury that ended up breaking his nose when Mysterio’s knee brace hit his face. Due to this, he had to undergo facial reconstruction surgery, and a new character was born.

After this, he was seen in the ring wearing a clear, protective mask. He took on a dark persona. On multiple occasions, he had said that he took inspiration from Marvel’s Dr. Doom to give the character a twisted and cold appeal. During this time, he would beat up his opponents and put a paper bag over their faces, a way of showing how he missed his old face. After he recovered from the injuries, he formed a tag team with Damian Sandow called Team Rhodes Scholar in 2012. During this time, he was a more Dapper Dan-type character.

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Eventually, the tag team faced a mutual falling out. This gave room for him to form a tag team with his half-brother Dustin Rhodes aka Goldust. But this team-up ended up opening new doors for him.

When Dreams turned into a Nightmare

Rhodes took up the persona of Stardust in 2014 to team up with his brother Golddust. Along with his brother, he went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship title by defeating The Usos. But Rhodes had expressed his frustration with the character many times. After experiencing a couple of incidences, he decided to leave the mantle for good. He left WWE and decided to have a run on independent circuits where he wanted to explore himself. When he joined NJPW, he was a part of the stable, Bullet Club and called himself The American Nightmare. 

Even though his run with the faction was not successful, he garnered a lot of attention due to this new persona. Later, when he became the EVP of AEW, the two personas added up, giving birth to the Cody Rhodes we see today. He made his surprise return to WWE during WrestleMania 38 in 2022. Since then, he has been known as ‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes. And most importantly, now he is known by his name, something he had previously wished for.

With WrestleMania 40 on the horizon, fans are excited to see what’s in store for The American Nightmare. What do you think about his history of gimmicks?

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