Cody Rhodes Surpassing Legend During Run As WWE’s Top Star
The Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is one of the most popular champions ever with no signs of slowing down.
At WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes “finished the story” by defeating Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Champion for the first time in his career.
For two years going into that match, many people considered Cody to be WWE’s top superstar even though he wasn’t holding the biggest singles championship in the company. Now that he is officially the WWE Champion, Cody’s popularity continues to surge.
Since WrestleMania 40, Cody has successfully defended the WWE Championship against AJ Styles at Backlash and Logan Paul at King and Queen of the Ring.
While big names like Roman Reigns and The Rock aren’t on WWE television like they were in the months leading up to WrestleMania 40, Cody continues to appear on Smackdown every week. Cody continues to lead the way as WWE fans fill arenas while also wearing their favorite “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes merchandise item.
Dave Meltzer spoke about Cody’s incredible merchandise numbers on Wrestling Observer Radio while noting that Rhodes is doing better merchandise than even John Cena, who was one of the biggest and longest WWE main eventers of all time.
“Cody Rhodes outside of the ring is everything. Like he is one of the best babyfaces they’ve ever had and he’s drawing like it too. Look, his numbers are bigger than Cena’s. I mean that would make him the biggest most successful babyface since the Austin-Rock era.”
Cody Rhodes Tops WWE Merchandise Sellers In 2024 So Far
It has been reported by Wrestlenomics on Twitter/X that Cody Rhodes leads the list of WWE merchandise sellers for 2024 so far.
1. Cody Rhodes
2. CM Punk
3. Jey Uso
4. Roman Reigns
5. WWE
When it comes to future WWE Title opponents, Cody Rhodes will likely have to face AJ Styles again after the Phenomenal One did a fake retirement on WWE Smackdown on May 31st. The fake retirement story ended with Styles giving Rhodes a Styles Clash on the floor.