WWE Bashed For Doing Nothing With Cody Rhodes

WWE has drawn criticism for the alleged mistreatment of Cody Rhodes.

The American Nightmare finished ‘his story’ at WrestleMania XL when he defeated Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Champion for the first time.

Since then, he has been featured in various storylines that may or may not have stuck with the fans.

One viewer who ended up in the latter category has expressed their grievance on the latest episode of their podcast. Former head creative writer of the Stamford promotion, Vince Russo, accused the company of doing nothing with Cody Rhodes following his WrestleMania 40 victory.

When Austin didn’t have the title or he lost the title, bro, you always rallied behind Austin. You wanted him to get that title back. And bro, we can go back to Bruno. We can go back to Hulk Hogan. You know, when the babyface lost that title, you immediately were behind the babyface, wanting them to get that title back. Bro, I don’t think that’s going to be the case with Cody at all.

They put that belt on Cody, and when he had that belt, they did not build him at all. So the original story is, ‘I got to finish the story, I got to finish the story.’ Okay, great. Since Cody has finished his story, they’ve done nothing with him.

WWE WrestleMania 42 Plan Featuring Cody Rhodes Up In Smoke

At the beginning of 2026, fans expected Cody Rhodes to carry the Undisputed WWE Championship to WrestleMania 42.

However, he lost the title to Drew McIntyre in the Three Stages of Hell match on the January 9 taping of SmackDown.

Initially, some reports even claimed that Rhodes would battle Roman Reigns on one of the main events at The Grandest Stage of Them All.

But with him having dropped the title and Reigns’ WWE return date unconfirmed, the creative team has seemingly pivoted in a new direction.

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed the Rhodes/Reigns match will probably not happen as a way to “shake things up.”

Meanwhile, Drew McIntyre is advertised to appear on the January 16 edition of SmackDown in Belfast, Ireland.