Cody Runnels (born June 30,
1985) is an American
professional wrestler, better known
by his ring name Cody
Rhodes. Runnels is currently signed by
World Wrestling Entertainment
(WWE) where he wrestles on its
Raw brand. He is a former
three-time World Tag Team Champion,
having won the championship once with
Hardcore
Holly and twice with
Ted
DiBiase.
Runnels started his professional wrestling career in 2006, using
his real name, wrestling for
Ohio
Valley Wrestling (OVW). While situated at OVW, he won various
championships, both in tag team and singles competition, including
the
OVW Heavyweight
Championship. He made his WWE television debut on July 16,
2007, under the ring name Cody Rhodes. In December 2007, Rhodes
captured his first title with the company, the World Tag Team
Championship with Hardcore Holly, and the two held it for six
months.
Rhodes formed a secret alliance with Ted DiBiase during 2008. In
the course of a match held on June 29 he turned on Holly by
switching sides to join DiBiase, with whom he became World Tag Team
champion. The new champions
dropped their titles
in August, only to win them back a week later. Rhodes and DiBiase
were joined by
Manu shortly
afterwards, forming a faction of multi-generation wrestlers,
although this alliance was to be short-lived. In January 2009,
Rhodes and DiBiase formed a new alliance,
The Legacy, with
Randy Orton.
Amateur wrestling career
Runnels
had a successful high school wrestling career, attending Lassiter High
School
in Marietta, Georgia
. He placed sixth in the division as a
sophomore. As a
junior, Runnels won the Georgia state
tournament at in 2003, and successfully defended the title in his
senior year.
Runnels had planned to wrestle at Pennsylvania
State University
, but decided to become a professional wrestler instead.
During his time in high school, Runnels also acted as a
referee in his father's
Turnbuckle
Championship Wrestling promotion. After graduating
from high school, Runnels attended an acting school.
Professional wrestling career
Ohio Valley Wrestling
Using his real name, Runnels began wrestling in
Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in June
2006. Runnels formed a
tag team with
Shawn Spears in mid-August 2006 and
they quickly became embroiled in a
scripted rivalry with
The Untouchables over the
OVW Southern Tag Team
Championship. They first captured the championship from The
Untouchables on October 18. In November 2006, Runnels and Spears
defeated The Untouchables in a tag team match, and won the services
of
Cherry, The Untouchables'
manager. Cherry accompanied
Spears and Runnels to ringside, and soon Spears began to fall in
love with her, which began interfering with their matches. On
November 29, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship was vacated
after a match between The Untouchables and Runnels and Spears ended
in a
draw. The following
week, a rematch between the two teams was held for the vacant
championship. During this match Cherry
turned on Spears and
Runnels, re-joining The Untouchables and helping them regain the
OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. Two weeks later, on December
20, Runnels and Spears defeated Deuce 'n Domino in a
Street
Fight to win the championship for the second time. Shortly
afterwards, Runnels and Spears became involved in a scripted
rivalry with each other, after Spears became jealous of Runnels'
success as a singles wrestler. This rift started when Runnels won
the
OVW Heavyweight
Championship from
Paul Burchill at
a
house show on February 17, 2007, only
to lose it back to Burchill the next day. Spears went on to win the
OVW Television
Championship in response. On April 11, the duo lost the
Southern Tag Team Championship to the team of
Justin LaRouche and
Charles Evans. Runnels went on to defeat his
now heated rival on July 6, to become the new OVW Television
Champion. Exactly one week later, however, Runnels lost the
championship back to Spears.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Debut and teaming with Hardcore Holly (2007–2008)
On the July 2 episode of
Raw,
Runnels made his television debut, using the
ring name Cody Rhodes, in a backstage segment with
his father
Dusty Rhodes and
Randy Orton, where Orton introduced
himself to Rhodes and then slapped Dusty as a sign of disrespect.
On July 9, Rhodes slapped Orton in return, and the following week,
Rhodes faced Orton in his debut WWE match, but lost. Rhodes
appeared at
The Great
American Bash to prevent Orton from further attacking his
father. The next night on
Raw, Rhodes challenged Orton to
a rematch from the previous week, only to lose again. Orton
followed this up by kicking Rhodes' father in the head, similar to
how he had, in
storyline, nearly ended the
careers of
Shawn Michaels and
Rob Van Dam.
Rhodes' next storyline was a rivalry with Daivari, after he pinned
him on the July 30 episode of
Raw, to keep his job. In the
midst of this rivalry, he also feuded with
The World's Greatest Tag Team,
defeating both members,
Charlie Haas
and
Shelton Benjamin in singles
matches. The two feuds combined, when Rhodes, along with
Paul London and Brian
Kendrick, beat The World's Greatest Tag Team and Daivari in a
six-man tag team match. The following week, Rhodes teamed up
with
Mickie James to defeat Daivari and
Jillian Hall, ending their scripted
rivalry.
Three weeks later, he began a feud with
Hardcore Holly and lost three consecutive matches
to him. Rhodes eventually earned Holly's respect, impressing Holly
during their matches with his persistence and several
near-falls, and the
two formed a tag team. They earned a shot at the World Tag Team
titles by defeating Paul London and Brian Kendrick and
The Highlanders in
a WWE.com exclusive match after an
Alabama Slam.
They fought against the Tag Team Champions
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch
at
Survivor Series, in what
was Rhodes' first on-screen title shot and pay-per-view match, but
were unsuccessful. On the November 19, 2007 episode of
Raw, Rhodes faced Holly for a fourth time, and beat him
for the first time, although they were both attacked by Randy Orton
afterwards.
On December 10, 2007, on the
Raw 15th Anniversary special episode,
Rhodes along with Hardcore Holly defeated Lance Cade and Trevor
Murdoch for the
World
Tag Team Championship, marking Rhodes' first championship in
WWE. The following week, Rhodes and Holly retained their title, in
their first title defense, against Cade and Murdoch. They also
successfully defended the championships against the teams of
Santino Marella and
Carlito and Paul London and Brian Kendrick.
In May 2008,
Ted DiBiase began
feuding with the duo, threatening to take their titles in his first
match as part of the Raw brand.
The Legacy (2008–present)
Rhodes in 2008
At the pay-per-view event,
Night of Champions on June 29,
Rhodes
turned
on Holly by revealing himself as Ted DiBiase's partner to help
DiBiase win the match, becoming a
villain. After holding the
championship for just over a month, they
dropped it to
John Cena and
Batista on the August 4 episode of
Raw. The following week, DiBiase and Rhodes used their
rematch clause to regain the championship. Rhodes and DiBiase were
joined by
Manu, the son of
Afa Anoa'i, in September, forming a stable of
multi-generational superstars. On the October 27, 2008 episode of
Raw, Rhodes and DiBiase lost the World Tag Team
Championship to
Kofi Kingston and
CM Punk.
During this time, Rhodes, DiBiase and Manu entered a storyline with
Randy Orton where Orton constantly criticized and insulted them,
and attacked DiBiase on the November 3 episode of
Raw. At
Survivor Series, Rhodes,
along with Orton, was a sole survivor, for Orton's team, in the
annual Elimination match. Rhodes and Manu accepted Orton's offer
for an alliance in the following weeks, and the trio dubbed
themselves "
The
Legacy"; debuting in a two-on-three handicap match against
Batista and
Triple H. Orton began
scheduling tests for The Legacy members, so they could prove
themselves, and over two weeks, both Manu and
Sim Snuka were kicked out.
On January 12, Snuka and Manu gave Rhodes the chance to align with
them to attack Orton, along with the returning Ted DiBiase, but
Rhodes refused. As they ambushed Orton, DiBiase instead joined with
Orton and Rhodes to attack Snuka and Manu, and became a member of
The Legacy. As part of The Legacy, Rhodes entered the
Royal Rumble match in order to help Orton
win, and lasted until the final three, before being eliminated by
Triple H. Rhodes and DiBiase became
involved in Orton's scripted rivalry with the
McMahon family, helping him to
attack
Shane and
Stephanie McMahon, and Stephanie's
real-life husband, Triple H. Rhodes was also elevated to
main event status as a result of
joining The Legacy, competing in handicap and six-man tag team
matches against Orton's opponents and rivals. On April 26, at
Backlash, Rhodes, DiBiase, and Orton
defeated Triple H, Batista, and
Shane
McMahon in a six-man tag team match, which, per the pre-match
stipulation, resulted in Orton winning the
WWE Championship. Rhodes suffered a minor
neck injury in June, but did not need any time off to recover.
Throughout mid-2009, Rhodes and DiBiase continued to compete
against and attack Orton's rivals, especially Triple H. This led to
Triple H reforming
D-Generation X
(DX) with
Shawn Michaels, and DX
defeated Rhodes and DiBiase at
SummerSlam. Rhodes and DiBiase defeated DX
at the following pay-per-view,
Breaking Point in a
submissions
count anywhere match, but were defeated in a
Hell in a Cell match at the
Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in October,
when Rhodes was pinned following a
sledgehammer shot to the head. To
sell the injury, Rhodes was
taken out of the arena on a stretcher following the match.
Other media
In July 2009, Rhodes became one of the faces of the
Gillette "Be a Superstar" advertising
campaign, along with
Chris Jericho and
John Cena. "Be a Superstar" is a four-month long interactive
campaign, which features the wrestlers in numerous videos promoting
Gillette
Fusion products. In August 2009, Rhodes, along with DiBiase,
The Big Show and
The Great Khali appeared on
The Tonight Show with Conan
O'Brien.
Personal life
Runnels is the son of
Dusty
Rhodes as well as the half-brother of fellow WWE superstar
Dustin Rhodes, who is better known by
his ring name "Goldust". He also has a sister, Kristin Ditto, who
is a former
Dallas Cowboys
Cheerleader. On March 31, 2007 at the
WWE Hall of Fame ceremony Runnels and
Dustin, inducted their father, Dusty, into the Hall of Fame. He is
also the nephew of professional wrestlers,
Jerry Sags and
Fred
Ottman, and the godson of
Magnum
T.A., another wrestler.
Runnels has worn wrestling gear that is half polka dots and half
gold, which is a tribute to his father, Dusty, and his half-brother
Dustin, respectively. Additionally, his boots feature a
Triforce symbol
from the
The Legend of
Zelda series of video games, as Runnels is a big fan of
the games, and has admitted to re-playing
A Link to the
Past yearly. Runnels is also a big
comic book fan, and used to wear wrestling gear
inspired by
Archangel, a
character from
X-Men. He cites
Omega Red and
Cyclops as his favorite fictional
characters, along with the
Inhumans.
In wrestling
-
- Cross Rhodes (Spinning facebuster) –
2009–present
- The Silver Spoon DDT (DDT) – 2007–2009; used as a
regular move from 2009–present
Championships and accomplishments
Amateur wrestling
- Georgia State Tournament
- Sixth at weight class (2002)
- Champion at weight class (2003)
- Champion at weight class (2004)
Professional wrestling
Notes
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search
