Why WWE May Be Reluctant To Turn Cody Rhodes Heel

There may be some WWE fans who want to see Cody Rhodes as a heel, but the company may be reluctant to do it for a specific reason.

Ever since Cody Rhodes returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 in 2022, he has been locked in as a babyface.

Four years later, Rhodes is a former 2-time WWE Champion who remains as popular as ever, and the fans sing along to his “Kingdom” song for several minutes as soon as it starts.

Since many wrestlers spend their careers as babyfaces and heels, there are always going to be fans wondering if a popular babyface like Rhodes will turn heel any time soon. It’s not like he hasn’t been a heel before. Cody has extensive experience in the role. However, in today’s WWE, it doesn’t seem like it’s happening any time soon.

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that WWE doesn’t plan to turn Cody Rhodes heel, and a big reason is the “American Nightmare” merchandise he sells.

“Regarding any rumors of a Rhodes heel turn, we were told it’s not happening now, won’t until it’s deemed it has to and the feeling is that’s no time soon and we were told his merchandise numbers are nothing to be tinkered with.”

The merchandise reason was often mentioned during John Cena’s WWE run in his prime, when the company was reluctant to turn him heel because of how much merchandise he sold as the undisputed top star.

Cody Rhodes In Huge Grudge Match At Saturday Night’s Main Event

When Cody Rhodes lost the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre on January 9th, Jacob Fatu played a major role in the title change because he was there to prevent Drew from leaving the cage to win the third fall in the 3 Stages of Hell Match. Cody wasn’t happy about Fatu being there, so they got into a fight too, and that allowed McIntyre to exit the cage and take the WWE Title from Rhodes.

At WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on January 24th in Montreal, Cody Rhodes will face Jacob Fatu in a huge grudge match. The lineup for SNME is below.

* Undisputed WWE Title No. 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way Match: Randy Orton vs. Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn

* Women’s Tag Team Championships: Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs. Liv Morgan & Roxanne Perez

* Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu

Most WWE SNME shows have four matches on them, so it’s likely that a fourth match gets added to the card.