WATCH: Cody Rhodes does a Stardust tease during WrestleMania 38 match

After weeks and weeks of anticipation, rumors, and teases, Cody Rhodes finally made his long-awaited return to WWE tonight at WrestleMania 38. He was revealed as Seth Rollins' "mystery opponent" and defeated the former Universal Champion after an amazing match.

One spot that caught many fans' attention was Cody calling back to his Stardust gimmick by doing a cartwheel and hand gesture. Stardust was a gimmick inspired by Cody's brother Dustin Rhodes (Goldust). Interestingly, when Cody last competed at WrestleMania six years ago, he competed as Stardust.

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Cody Rhodes took the blame on himself for the Stardust gimmick

The Stardust gimmick debuted in 2014 and saw Cody come out to the ring with a star painted on his face, a bodysuit, and similar mannerisms to Goldust. The gimmick was mainly used as comic relief and saw him relegated to the mid-card and lower mid-card.

In 2020, Cody Rhodes took to Twitter and said he blamed himself for the Stardust gimmick as he was a subpar performer under the paint. He added that WWE made a mistake not to capitalize on his 2010-12 run:

"Not pushing Stardust wasn’t the crime, the character had broke me and I was a subpar performer under the paint during that period. The crime was not capitalizing on 2010-12 where I was cooking with gas and my live event work was top level consistent. In the end, blame is on me."

The rumors of Cody Rhodes' WWE return started the talks about his Stardust gimmick and how WWE misused a talent like him. However, his WrestleMania 38 return saw him getting the same character representation as during his time in AEW with the same look, theme song, and ring gear.

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Comment down and let us know your thoughts on Cody Rhodes' WrestleMania 38 return.

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Check out the full results of Night One of WrestleMania 38 HERE.