A New Gimmick for Stardust: Cody Rhodes Insinuates a Change

Just over a week ago, our colleague from SÚPER LUCHAS Coldkobe wrote an interesting article theorizing about some wrestlers who need a gimmick change to revitalize their characters. Cody Rhodes is one of the most urgent cases, as his alter ego Stardust has become a big joke for quite some time now. Together with Goldust, they did a good job as a tag team, but injuries and poor booking have derailed their careers. Since then, Rhodes has been relegated to mid-card positions.

Leading up to WWE SummerSlam 2015, Stardust engaged in a storyline with actor Stephen Amell, a typical move by the company to attract new fans during the spotlight of the second most important PPV of the year. This seemed to mark a turning point in Rhodes' career, but his ascent to bigger roles never came. WrestleMania 32 was another important milestone, competing in the ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, though with the feeling of being used as filler.

Yesterday, Cody Rhodes uploaded a photo to his Twitter profile in the middle of his makeup process, showing only half of his face as Stardust. Rhodes has been playing with the end of Stardust for the past few months, and perhaps this snapshot can become the true beginning of a different stage for him. The image was accompanied by three lines from a Green Day song, 'I come around'.

🎼No time to search the world around
Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around🎼 #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/UHzu8b1UNg

— Stardust (@StardustWWE) May 12, 2016

The intertwined personalities of both gimmicks would be attractive, similar to the character of Two-Face, the famous Batman villain. It is worth remembering that the gimmick that brought him the most success was based on a similar idea: the degeneration of "Dashing" Cody Rhodes after breaking his nose in a match against Rey Mysterio back in January 2011, returning as a kind of paranoid narcissist obsessed with the supposed deformity of his face. The idea of handing out paper bags to the audience is a gold mine that could have been exploited further, it must be said.

Stardust needs to disappear as soon as possible if Dusty Rhodes' son wants to revitalize his career in WWE and be taken seriously; that is, be considered more than just an excellent worker in the ring. Finding an attractive and defining character becomes one of the biggest challenges for every wrestler, and perhaps this is Rhodes' first step in paving that path.