Why Cody Rhodes is the Best Heel in Wrestling
I like to keep things as positive as possible.
I like WWE.
I like AEW.
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What is a heel? If you were to look up the definition on google, this is what you would find:
“A wrestler who portrays a villain, bad guy or rulebreaker and acts as an antagonist to the babyfaces.”
It sounds simple enough. A wrestler does something dastardly, talks bad about the hometown or cheats to win and his job is as easy as that… or is it? Over time, the perception of heels has become that they need to be cool. Hardly anybody wants to be the true definition of a heel to the core these days and we can probably blame the nWo for that. When they debuted, it was new and refreshing. The fans saw this group of “bad guys” doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted and it made them want to be a part of that. Now you have heels that want that same fan perception for themselves. They want to be adored by the same fans that are supposed to be booing them. They want the fans to love them, not for doing a good job but for being cool.
Never in my life did I think that a heel getting “heat” would be a bad take. What is heat? Let’s revert back to google once again:
“A negative reaction that a wrestling character gets from the crowd.”
I don’t understand how anyone can not get why a HEEL is supposed to be getting HEAT. That is their main objective in this business, but for whatever reason there are fans who think that doesn’t matter anymore. It erases the emotional investment that was created for the sole reason for the fans to get behind a character and it’s one of the things that made professional wrestling great to begin with. Whether you like it or not, you are supposed to WANT the babyface to overcome the odds. You are supposed to WANT to see the babyface get his revenge and reach the top of the mountain. It is the foundation of wrestling and you can’t argue that.
So let us take a look at some of the top heels today:
- Roman Reigns
- MJF
- Seth Rollins
- Kevin Owens
- Young Bucks
- Bobby Lashley
What do they all have in common? They are all heels who the fans absolutely love. Roman Reigns has never been more popular with the fans. The fans love seeing MJF knowing he is gonna deliver a promo they will absolutely love. Kevin Owens has always been preferred to be a heel over a babyface. “He’s just cooler!” Young Bucks were boring in AEW until they started acting like clowns and Bobby Lashley’s Hurt Business schtick was the most popular act on Raw for a year. None of those sound like true heels to me. And yes, you can respect the role that the heel is playing but that shouldn’t outweigh the instinct you should feel towards a performer playing a “dastardly, son of a bitch” that you can’t help but hate.
Constable Corbin. King Corbin.
This is an example of a true heel in professional wrestling. People like to call it “go away heat” when they dislike someone so much that they want them to just not be there. You genuinely do not like King Corbin. That’s a good heel. You can’t use the excuse that Corbin is boring, because he has triggered you to have such a strong reaction. You can’t try and tell me that he is a bad wrestler because he has two of the “coolest” moves in wrestling. His finisher is one the very few that has still been protected to this day and all of his colleagues will never say anything other than how safe he is. What you can tell me is that you hate seeing Baron Corbin because he has triggered a response. This was the man I was going to crown as the best REAL heel in the business but then, a new contestant entered the race…
Cody Rhodes. The most hated babyface in all of wrestling.
That might sound like a crazy thought to some people but allow me to break this theory down for you. I’m going to give you 3 reasons as to why Cody Rhodes is actually in fact a heel and why it is such a brilliant character for him to be playing, while working a portion of the fans.
1. Controlling the Perception
Cody made sure everyone knew what he thinks of the “old tropes of professional wrestling” when he let it be known that he personally doesn’t believe that the ideas of babyfaces and heels work anymore. Like a politician, he plays into the fans as he praises them for being “too smart” for that ideology. Luring them into the belief that he understands them, respects them and is willing to mold his character work into something for the new school of fans. But much like a politician, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.
Does he truly believe this about the fans or is this the work of a man trying to control the narrative. A character that believes he is doing the right thing and is a man of the people but in reality is nothing more than a Homelander. A villain at heart that plays the part of a hero and is willing to go to great lengths to prove that, even if it means partaking in traditional heel work. His perfectly worded promos are geared to gain the audience’s love but most of the time, they miss the mark completely. This comes across as a political “baby kissing” but the true intentions are as clear as day. He wants you to believe he is the good guy in every scenario he finds himself in as he tries to control the perception.
2. The Darkside
So if Cody is trying to trick the fans into believing good guys and bad guys don’t exist, what does he truly gain from that? Well, it allows him to blur the lines of what is and what’s not acceptable behavior for babyfaces and heels, while he parades around with the do gooder attitude and a clean shaven face equipped with condescending smirk. He’s allowed to exhibit heel tendencies and get away with it because he told you that stuff doesn’t matter anymore. Some fans have figured it out while some continue to fall for the ruse. What makes that part so interesting is that it is the kind of character that causes division amongst fans, and that is the truest evil one could project on to the viewers.
Politics are an ugly game because you are either on the right side or the wrong side. The most heated of arguments will always be with politics, something that is engineered to cause division amongst the people. This whole gimmick allows him to truly present himself as the ultimate babyface while encompassing many of the traits that normally define somebody as a definitive heel. Whereas we have seen others in the past think they are babyfaces while doing heel things, I think this is the most effective the idea has ever been and it is one of the most intriguing character arcs in recent memory for professional wrestling.
3. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
We have a heel tunnel. We have a babyface tunnel. Cody splits the tunnels and makes his grand entrance through the middle to keep up with the facade. The amount of money and time that goes into his grand entrance is to imply great importance and celebrate the man that is Cody Rhodes but it is nothing more than overkill to distract those not in the loop of the deeper meaning behind his character. The inside joke that Cody wants to be like Triple H is even used as many viewed Triple H as a bad guy for politicking his way into burying certain talent for his own benefit. What does Cody do? He welcomes the comparison with open arms and even plays into it every once in a while, all while painting the same picture that he too buries young talent in favor of himself. He knows what the fans think of Triple H for doing that, he acknowledges it and still plays right into it. Why? Why would a babyface want to embody that image? More line blurring. And last but certainly not least, why would Cody feel the need to put a man whom his beef with is minimal at best, through a flaming table? That is not the actions of the good guy Cody portrays.
He can say all the right things but at the end of the day, actions like that tell a much different story. The table spot was the final piece of the puzzle for me. It allowed me to “crack the code” of who Cody truly is and sInce then, more signs have followed as fans seem to be coming around to this idea that Cody is in fact a true heel. Cody is going to do what he THINKS is best and his thoughts outweigh any of the fans. It is why he continues to stay the course of “never turning heel” even though his actions go against that thought. It is why he continues to bring Brandi with him knowing damn well what the fans think of her being forced on to the show. And it is why he has removed himself from Twitter, because if you are not going to be on his side, your criticism is invalid and he wants no part of it. Off to Instagram he goes where the fans are much more polite and agreeable to him, which sounds a lot like the idea behind the app Parler. A safe haven for your beliefs amongst others who share those exact same thoughts.
And those are the reasons why I believe that Cody is not just a heel, but the best heel in all of professional wrestling today.
There you have it, my wildest of theories to date. Let me know what you think as I would love to hear some feedback on this. Whether you agree or disagree, this is the most interesting thing in wrestling at the moment for me and I welcome open minded engagement to discuss this topic. Other than that, make sure you are checking out all the Takeaways on Wrestlebuddy.com and Recaps on YouTube from yours truly, The Drip King!
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