Vince Russo thinks Cody Rhodes needs to disappear from WWE television for a while — and Randy Orton already gave the company the perfect reason to make it happen. Russo believes Orton spent their entire story questioning whether Cody has the killer instinct needed to survive at the top, and then Rhodes went out there and proved him right.
Russo broke down the Cody-Orton situation on the Coach and Bro Show after Jonathan Coachman wondered whether WWE was slowly pushing Rhodes toward a more aggressive version of himself. Russo immediately rejected the idea of dragging that transformation out over time. Instead, Russo believes WWE should use what happened with Orton as an excuse to pull Cody off television completely.
“Yeah. See, that’s the problem. The slowly morphing. Okay. Because if I am writing this, if I were writing this, this is the perfect opportunity to put Cody on the shelf for a little while.”
Russo then compared Cody’s situation to Rocky III, where Rocky Balboa finds himself questioning whether he still has what it takes after his confidence gets shattered.
“We are at Rocky 3. We’re at Rocky 3 when Rocky’s at the beach with Adrian and he’s doubting himself.”
The biggest part of Russo’s pitch comes back to what Orton kept telling Rhodes. Randy repeatedly accused Cody of not having the killer instinct, and Russo believes the match should have left Rhodes realizing that Orton may have been right all along.
“Bro, the whole story was Orton saying, ‘You don’t have the killer instinct. You don’t have the killer instinct. You don’t have the killer instinct.’ Guess what? He didn’t have the killer instinct.”
That’s where Russo thinks WWE should hit Cody where it hurts. Instead of having Rhodes walk onto the next show ready for another fight, Russo wants him questioning everything about himself.
“So now that needs to be Cody’s story. He needs to be at a point in his career where now he’s questioning himself. And this is the perfect opportunity for Cody to go away for a little while while he goes through this.”
Russo doesn’t want that story confined to a wrestling arena either. He thinks WWE could follow Cody outside the ring and show what happens when a guy who has spent years presenting himself as the face of the company suddenly starts wondering if he still belongs there. Russo even pitched Cody having an emotional conversation with his wife similar to the Rocky and Adrian scene from Rocky III.
“And again, man, this gives him a good story outside of the ring because Randy was right. The dude was right. And to see the conversation between him and his wife that we saw between Rocky and Adrien would be absolutely phenomenal.”
For Russo, the next scene practically writes itself. He wants Cody sitting backstage after the match with Orton’s words eating him alive.
“So that’s why I always say, Coach, they do something like this, and what do I always say? What’s the logical next step? The logical next step is he’s sitting there at his locker after the match saying, ‘Bro, Randy was right, man. I don’t have that. I don’t have it. Maybe I don’t belong in this anymore.’ That’s the story.”
Coachman then suggested WWE could take cameras to Cody’s home and keep the story going without Rhodes appearing at the arena every week. Russo loved the idea and said Cody could even have conversations with his wife, wrestling legends or friends while trying to figure out what comes next.
Russo isn’t saying Cody Rhodes should disappear because WWE has nothing for him. He wants Cody gone because Randy Orton got inside his head, exposed the one weakness he kept hammering away at, and left Rhodes wondering if he still has what it takes. If WWE actually lets that wound sit for a while, Cody’s return could hit a whole lot harder than another entrance, another promo and business as usual.
Should WWE pull Cody Rhodes off television and let Randy Orton’s “killer instinct” comments eat away at him, or would taking Cody away kill the momentum of the story? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
