Chris Flackett
With WrestleMania XL soon approaching, with a certain story soon to be finished, here at 25YL we thought it would be a good time to take a look at the ‘American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes and his history at ‘the Granddaddy of Them All’ as he prepares to head into his second ‘Mania main event and once again face Roman Reigns for arguably the biggest gold in the sport.
Cody Rhodes had to leave WWE to make himself ‘Undeniable’ so that he could come back as a true star. That move is reflected in his WrestleMania history, having made fewer appearances at the event than you might have realised, but also reflected in the level of matches he had had there, going from lower card and mid-card encounters before he left and upper mid-card and main event matches after his return. That says a lot about the value WWE believes Rhodes holds for them now, but also about the work Rhodes put into himself in his time away.
It looked for a moment as if it wasn’t going to happen, at least at WrestleMania, but if Rhodes can put away Roman at WrestleMania XL and finish the story, then we could be looking at the next Cena-level superstar, something WWE has been looking for but had not found until now.
But all that is to come. For now, let’s take a look at the stats for Cody Rhodes’ appearances at WrestleMania!
The (Nightmare) Stats
- Cody Rhodes has appeared at eight different WrestleManias to date—WrestleMania XL will be his ninth appearance.
- With his appearance at WrestleMania XL, it will mean that Cody will be one appearance short of appearing at a quarter of all WrestleMania events as of that show (although, as it appears Cody will wrestle two matches at that show, then in terms of matches, it will mean Cody will have wrestled ten WrestleMania matches, which will mean the number of matches will equal a quarter of the number of WrestleManias).
- Cody made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania XXVI and went on to appear at WrestleMania XXVII, XXVIII, XXX, 31, 32, 38 and 39.
- The gap between Cody’s last WrestleMania match before leaving WWE (WrestleMania 32) and his first match after returning (WrestleMania 38) is six years. As we all know, Cody wasn’t busy at all during that time…
- Out of 8 matches at WrestleMania, Cody has only won two (a 2-6 win/loss record); his first win was against Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania XXVII; his second victory occurred in his WWE return match at WrestleMania XXVIII. That is a gap of 11 years between WrestleMania victories.
- Cody has only wrestled in two singles title matches at WrestleMania. One was as champion, where he defended the WWE Intercontinental Championship to The Big Show, and the other was as the challenger to Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
- Cody has wrestled 4 singles matches at WrestleMania, 3 multi-man matches and 1 triple-threat encounter.
- Roman Reigns is the only one of Cody’s WrestleMania opponents that he will have wrestled twice in singles matches at the event (and wrestled three times overall if the tag match with Seth Rollins vs. Roman & The Rock goes ahead on Night One of WrestleMania XL).
- Seth Rollins will be the only one of Cody’s WrestleMania opponents that he will also have tagged with at the event (indeed, this will be Cody’s first ‘Mania tag match and Seth his first ever partner there).
- Out of his 8 WrestleMania matches, Cody has appeared under 4 different gimmicks; as a member of ‘The Legacy’; as ‘Undashing’ Cody Rhodes; as Stardust; and as ‘The American Nightmare’. He has also appeared simply under the name ‘Cody Rhodes’.
- Under the Stardust gimmick, Cody has wrestled twice, in back-to-back WrestleManias (31 and 32 respectively), in multi-man Intercontinental Championship ladder matches. The Intercontinental Championship is the title that Cody has appeared in matches for the most at WrestleMania (either challenging or defending), with three matches (at XXVIII, 31 and 32) featuring the belt. The only other title Cody has wrestled for at ‘Mania to date is the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39.
- Cody’s WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania XXVI was in a triple-threat match with his former Legacy teammates Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase Jr. However, Cody did not concede the fall, as it was Ted DiBiase Jr that Orton pinned to win the match. Cody would not actually be pinned or submitted to lose a match until his loss to The Big Show at WrestleMania XXVII.
- In fact, out of Cody Rhodes’ six WrestleMania losses, he was only pinned twice; once by The Big Show at WrestleMania XXVIII; and once by Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39. Of the other four losses, two were in ladder matches where another competitor climbed the ladder and took the title belt, one was an over-the-top elimination in the ‘Andre the Giant’ Memorial Battle Royal, and one was the aforementioned Triple-Threat match where Ted DiBiase Jr took the fall. Cody was never submitted, disqualified or counted out in any of these losses.
- Out of Cody’s two WrestleMania wins, both victories were achieved by pinfall after Rhodes, in both instances, hit the Cross Rhodes on his opponent.
- At WrestleMania XXX in the 31-man ‘Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal’, Cody was the 24th competitor to be eliminated, outlasting 23 other wrestlers in the process. He was eliminated by Alberto Del Rio.
- And last but not least, Cody Rhodes’s first win at WrestleMania was also his only WrestleMania win while wearing a protective face mask. His opponent, Rey Mysterio, had legitimately broken Cody’s nose in a match earlier in the year, necessitating Cody wearing the protective face mask. The mask came into play at WrestleMania XXVII, with Cody headbutting Mysterio with the mask on before nailing Cross Rhodes for the win.
So, not the most illustrious WrestleMania record for Cody Rhodes. Having said that, the majority of his losses occurred before his time away from WWE, and he has a 1-1 win/loss record since his return. That loss can in itself be seen as a win in its way; it was Cody’s first WrestleMania main event, a major achievement for a wrestler, and the loss has set up a redemption arc for Rhodes that has led to a rematch with Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania XL. Arguably, Cody is a bigger star now than he was this time last year because of the loss last year and his booking since. This could be the start of much more magnificent WrestleMania record for ‘The American Nightmare’.
