Breaking Holds: Episode Twenty-Six, featuring Cody Rhodes

Columns, Top Story

Today’s Episode: This Man, This Monster

Note that I haven’t read any spoilers for tomorrow’s Smackdown, so if something of note happens with Mr. Cody Rhodes i.e. already did happen this past Tuesday, I’m hopeful that this upcoming little rant won’t be completely evaporated by said events.

Cody Rhodes has been a bad, bad man for years now, and we’ve hungrily slurped up his vile heelishness like thirsty hounds. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes was a marvelous new take on the tried and true, “I’m better looking than you” gimmick, acting as a sort of new-era Rick “The Model” Martel, one of my favorites from yesteryear. More recently, he has become the Elephant Man, but not bothering to scream that he is not an animal, but a human being. He has transformed his desire to be dashing to a demented pride in deformity, even though his clear mask shows us that he’s more or less unchanged from when he was considered oh so very beautiful.

Back when he first put on the mask, I had hoped it would be in the style of Kane’s original mask, covering the entire face and leaving the truth of his appearance a mystery. Then, it would be revealed after a war with Rey Mysterio leading to Cody’s unmasking that, like Dr. Victor Von Doom from the Fantastic Four comics, his face was essentially unchanged from before, showing that the slightest mark to his otherwise perfect visage made him a monster in his own eyes.

Of course, in the comics, Dr. Doom put the mask on his face when it was still scalding hot, ACTUALLY disfiguring him. But that’s besides the point.

I bring this up because earlier this week on Raw, Cody walloped Randy Orton right in the head with his mask, which he actually took off of his face. It wasn’t one of his headbutts, which he’s used on a few occasions to get the upper hand in a match, but willingly took the mask off of his face and smacked his enemy with it. The mask, in this case, was not a protective device, but a weapon; not a necessary guard from the prying eyes of the world, but a tool. A prop.

I’m likely reading too much into this, but it makes me wonder if this is the beginning of a new chapter for Mr. Rhodes. Is he going to abandon the mask, and if so, what could he do with it? The mind races at the possibilities, but I know what I’d like. What if he, like Kane, believed himself to be hideously scarred, even though we can now all see that his face is basically fine?

I know that the mask is clear and that we’ve ALWAYS been able to see that he’s fine, but just bear with me. Cody Rhodes without the mask can be the exact same man that Cody Rhodes WITH the mask is, except that we now see that he’s even crazier than we originally believed. The paper bags continue, and he punishes us by making us look at his horrifying face as he reminds us that he is not the beast, we are. This man, this monster, will show us the way by forcing us to look at this mutant carry aloft the shining, golden Intercontinental Championship while we, the merry fools who think him hideous, sit ignorant to our own repugnant nature.

There’s something about characters that are just absolutely bonkers that capture my imagination. Sure, you get nutcakes like Eric Young, who vary in their entertainment value, but the insanity gimmick can really create some gold, such as Chavo Guerrero and Pepe (his hobby horse) back in WCW, Victoria’s delightful lunacy, or Kane’s own unmasking, where it turned out that he only believed himself burnt over the course of his entire life. Fans have seen Cody has just a bit of an eccentric for the past several months when he can be so much more.

He can be our wacko with the winning smile who thinks he’s missing all of his teeth. He can rock the smooth, alabaster skin while he imagines that we only see scares and jutting jaws. He can be dangerous in ways that we can’t consider, because we don’t know what it’s like to be the monster.

You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.

Ivan prides himself on being a wrestling fan that can tie both of his own shoes by himself, as well as having an analytic mind when it comes to the fake sport that he's loved ever since he watched Jake Roberts DDT Boris Zhukov on Prime Time Wrestling.