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#4 A mid-card legacy
Since leaving WWE, Cody Rhodes has collected world titles under the NWA and ROH brands, and been a main event level talent for smaller promotions around the wrestling world. In WWE, he had peaked a few times—in Legacy’s feud with DX, in teaming with Goldust against The Shield, and in his WrestleMania programs with Rey Mysterio and The Big Show.
Despite his work in these higher profile scenarios generally being well received, Rhodes never was able to break the glass ceiling. He wasn’t getting any younger and there’s a reason to believe he’d never re-attain even the aforementioned heights again.
So, Rhodes would go down as, at best, a mid-card guy and perhaps a fringe Hall of Fame inductee one day, about equally on account of his accomplishments as on his last name. The jury is still out on his long term legacy in the broader scheme of the wrestling business, but Rhodes’s story certainly got a lot more interesting for the choice to leave WWE.
