Cody Rhodes WWE

Cody Rhodes Again Addresses His Babyface Position in WWE

Originally posted on Wrestling on SI | By Matt Black | Last updated Feb 11, 2026 11:40 PM ET

Fans have been trying to turn Cody Rhodes heel since his days in AEW. Despite that, The American Nightmare has remained a babyface for a very important reason.

After departing WWE in 2016, Rhodes would embark on an incredible journey that would eventually lead him back to the company six years later. During his time away, Rhodes had a memorable heel run as a member of Bullet Club while working both New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor.

But by the time All Elite Wrestling was launched in 2019, The American Nightmare had firmly established himself as one of the top babyfaces in the industry. Near the end of his time in AEW, fans urged Rhodes to turn into a full-fledged heel. However, Rhodes would make the jump back to WWE instead at WrestleMania 38 and, in a relatively short period of time, became the company's top babyface.

WWE

Rhodes was a recent guest on Live with Kelly and Mark. While explaining the babyface term, Rhodes noted he believes the era of the anti-hero in WWE is behind us, and that the company has entered a new phase of popularity in which babyfaces have come back to life. This is something Rhodes feels very strongly about and wants to remain in that spot because it's fun for him.

"Yeah, everybody runs in all my matches. It's the bane of my existence as a good guy wrestler, I get beat up a lot," Cody Rhodes said. "What we would call, this is not my term, a babyface. Bad guys are the heels, and then there's the babyfaces. For a long time, there were a lot of anti-heroes and television the nature of it.

"And just recently, it felt like WWE hit the stride with so much youth in the audience that it felt like babyfaces came back to life. Jey Uso, for example, is somebody that the kids go crazy for. Sami Zayn is out there doing it. And for me to be able to be in that spot, I don't want to leave it. It's, it's so much fun."

Cody Rhodes might experience a bumpy road to WrestleMania 42

While it might not be as difficult had he been standing across the ring from Roman Reigns, it appears Cody Rhodes might be fighting an uphill battle as a babyface on the road to WrestleMania 42.

Rhodes shockingly dropped the WWE Championship last month to Drew McIntyre in a Three Stages of Hell match on SmackDown. Despite The American Nightmare being dead set on securing his rematch at the Showcase of the Immortals, many in the WWE Universe have begun to push back on this idea.

The crowd in Saudi Arabia last month made it abundantly clear that while they might have been behind Rhodes, they had no interest in seeing him win the Royal Rumble match for a third time.

If WWE insists on doing another singles match between Rhodes and McIntyre at WrestleMania 42, a feud that many believe has already run its course, there's a high chance that the crowd will attempt to reverse the roles of the two wrestlers at the biggest event of the year.

This article first appeared on Wrestling on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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