Cody Rhodes American Professional Wrestler From Charlotte

Early life

Cody Garrett Runnels Rhodes was born on 30 June 1985 in Charlotte, North Carolina. His father, Dusty Rhodes, was a well-known professional wrestler, and his half-brother Dustin Rhodes also became one. He grew up in Georgia and attended Lassiter High School in Marietta, where he wrestled as an amateur and won the Georgia state tournament at 189 pounds in 2003 and again in 2004. He had planned to wrestle at Penn State University but chose professional wrestling instead. After finishing school he moved to Los Angeles and studied acting for a year. His father began teaching him the fundamentals of wrestling when he was twelve.

Career

Rhodes began wrestling in May 2006 in Ohio Valley Wrestling, then WWE's developmental territory, under his birth name Cody Runnels. There he won the promotion's heavyweight and television titles and, with Shawn Spears, the Southern Tag Team Championship twice. He reached WWE's main roster in July 2007. With Hardcore Holly he won the World Tag Team Championship, and in 2008 he joined Ted DiBiase and Randy Orton in the stable known as The Legacy. Over the next years he won the Intercontinental Championship twice, held the WWE Tag Team Championship with Drew McIntyre in 2010, and played several characters, including the self-admiring "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and the face-painted Stardust, a character modelled on his brother's Goldust persona. With Goldust he won the tag team titles in 2013 and again in 2014.

In May 2016 he asked for his release from WWE, saying he was frustrated with the creative direction of his character. He then worked as Cody on the independent circuit and for Ring of Honor, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He won the ROH World Championship in June 2017, and with Matt and Nick Jackson, known as The Young Bucks, the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship in 2018. In New Japan he held the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, winning it in 2018.

In 2018 Rhodes and The Young Bucks promoted an independent event called All In. Its tickets sold out in about thirty minutes, and on 1 September he defeated Nick Aldis there for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The event led to the creation of All Elite Wrestling, announced in January 2019, in which Rhodes served as an executive vice president as well as a performer. At the first AEW show, Double or Nothing, he faced his brother Dustin, and the match was later named Match of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. In 2020 he became the first AEW TNT Champion, and he held the title three times in total. He left AEW in early 2022.

Rhodes returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, defeating Seth Rollins, and said he had come back to win the WWE Championship that his father had never held. He won the men's Royal Rumble match in 2023 and in 2024. At WrestleMania XL in April 2024 he defeated Roman Reigns to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, his first world title in the company. He later won the first Crown Jewel Championship in November 2024, and the King of the Ring tournament in 2025. He has held the Undisputed WWE Championship three times, losing it to John Cena in April 2025, winning it back from Cena in August 2025, and again taking it from Drew McIntyre in March 2026. He lost it to Sami Zayn in June 2026. WWE counts him as its 34th Triple Crown Champion.

Outside the ring, Rhodes was a judge on the television competition Go-Big Show and appeared with his wife, Brandi Rhodes, on the reality series Rhodes to the Top. He guest-starred as Derek Sampson in the television series Arrow, voiced a version of himself in the 2023 animated series Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, and has appeared in WWE video games, including as the cover star of WWE 2K24.

Recognition

Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him Wrestler of the Year in 2024 and 2025, and ranked him first in its PWI 500 list in both of those years. ESPN named him Male Wrestler of the Year in 2023, and the New York Post did so in 2024. He received the ESPY Award for Best WWE Moment in 2022 for his return at WrestleMania 38. Wrestling Observer Newsletter inducted him into its hall of fame in 2025.

Personal life

Rhodes is married to Brandi Rhodes, a ring announcer and former wrestler. He and his half-brother inducted their father into the WWE Hall of Fame on 31 March 2007. He is a keen video-game player and a fan of comic books, and he has incorporated ideas from games and comics into his ring gear.